


Dollhouse

by dedicated_powerhouse



Series: Hatchet [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Multi, Murder Mystery, bokuakakurotsuki is the main ship, dont let the first chapter fool you, police!au, soulmate!AU, there will be descriptions of panic attacks in later chapters, there's a bit of side DaiTeru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-07-15 04:09:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7207232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dedicated_powerhouse/pseuds/dedicated_powerhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miyagi, a small town in upstate California, is hit with a series of murders and the police are struggling to find even a single lead. So, they call in the BAU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dollhouse

**Author's Note:**

> I watch to many crime shows. It's a problem. I also find it relevant that my first word is a swear.

“Fuck.” Detective Sawamura stared at the blood-covered walls, vaguely hearing another cop rush out of the room with a hand over his mouth.

This was the third murder in two weeks and he felt a growing pressure in his forehead. The speed between kills was escalating. Iwaizumi stood next to him, tired eyes looking at the words dripping down the white paint. 

_Not the last._

Another family had been ruined. This time a mother, father, two sons, and a daughter, had all been murdered in their home. They lived in a nice neighborhood, probably thought they were safe when they went to sleep that night.

Before that it had been a young, married couple. The man had picked the lock on the side door, and had immediately made his way to the bedroom, passing over any valuables he could have stolen. The wife had been pregnant.

The first had been sloppy, a home invasion in the dodgier part of town. It looked like it was supposed to be a simple robbery. But the criminal hadn’t known the family of three was home. The daughter had almost gotten away while the murderer was killing her parents. She had been the first body they found, by the front door.  
After that, it seemed like whoever was doing it had gotten a taste for blood and was enjoying it, a little too much.

“We need to bring in the FBI.” Iwaizumi dragged his hand over his face, green eyes closing in frustration. “We don’t have enough officers to handle something like this.”

“I agree. Who knows when this bastard will strike next. I’ll go talk to the sheriff.” Sawamura turned from the scene just as the forensic photographer walked in the room.

“Oh, hello Iwaizumi, Daichi. You just leaving?”

Sawamura smiled at the silver-haired man and nodded, watching as his partner stumbled a little before letting out a grunt.

“Well, you better leave quick. The press is gathering and it looks like they’re ready to have a field day.”

“Really? Thanks for the warning, we’ll leave out the back.” Sawamura put a hand on Iwaizumi’s shoulder, and guided him from the room. A few seconds of silence passed before he was looking over at his partner. “You know, I don’t know why you don’t just get together with Suga. He’s your soulmate, right? And it’s obvious you have feelings for him, so...”

The other scowled, scuffing his feet as he stepped out the back door. The yelling of the press carried around the house, it was obvious some of the other officers hadn’t gotten the same warning. “Just because I might develop feelings doesn’t mean Sugawara will feel the same. It could end up being just platonic for him.”

“That’s ridiculous! As his best friend, I can honestly say he’s into you. I don’t know why you’re waiting.” 

The two walked around a neighbor’s house, coming out on the street behind the press. All their attention was focused on the crime scene, making it easy to get to their patrol car down the block. 

Iwaizumi cracked his knuckles, then his neck, and let out a sigh. “I just don’t want to force Sugawara-san into something he’ll regret.”

“Why would you even –” Sawamura threw up his hands. “Alright, I get it. There’s some baggage. But do you honestly think Suga wouldn’t understand?”

“No, he’s been very...” Iwaizumi paused, eyes flitting away, “understanding.”

“You do realize that if you don’t tell me the story behind that statement, I’ll just get it out of Suga, right?” He opened the driver side door, slipping the keys into the ignition as Iwaizumi got in beside him. The neighborhood was close to the station, it would be a short drive.

His partner paused, looking at Sawamura out of the corner of his eye, before letting out a sigh. “You know the case we had a while back with the gas station robbery?” When Sawamura nodded as he pulled out of the neighborhood, the man continued, “Sugawara worked that case too, and after he had finished...we went to a nearby bar, and then went to my place...”

“Holy shit. Seriously?” Sawamura ran a hand through his hair, “This is ridiculous. And you think it’s just platonic? Have you talked at all with Suga about it?”

There was silence as they drove down the road, and Sawamura scanned the road to keep from looking at his partner. There were a few drivers pushing the speed limit, but it was the early afternoon and school had probably just been let out. They were most likely only kids trying to get home. And besides, once they saw the police car on the road most of them slowed down considerably.

“I...told him I didn’t want a relationship, after.” Iwaizumi’s eyes flitted to the side, watching out the window as they pulled into the station.

Sawamura clicked his tongue, pulling into his car’s spot, parking and pulling the keys out of the ignition before turning to his friend. “That’s bull, man. You can’t play my best friend around like that.”

“But I...”

He held up a hand, stopping Iwaizumi from continuing. “No buts. It’s not fair to Suga.” 

Sawamura opened his car door, lifting one leg out before twisting back around to his frozen partner. “I’m going to talk to Ukai, feel free to join me when you aren’t being an idiot.”  
When he stood up and made his way to the sidewalk, the smell of fresh baked bread drifted over from the bakery next door. They were smart in setting up next to the police station, he could already feel a craving for something sweet. And with the library just on the other side of them, they saw a lot of student traffic too.

When he stepped into the station, he was met with a frantic scramble. He dodged a secretary focused on the papers in her hands and rushing towards the printers, not bothering to look where she was going. He raised a hand to Asahi, who smiled back.

“Hey! Good to see you back!”

“Ah...are you going to say that every time you see me now?” Asahi rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle. “I’ve been back for a week already.”

Sawamura laughed and slapped the man’s back, pretending he didn’t see the other’s wince. “I’ll stop saying it when it isn’t true! We missed you!”

“Yeah, Nishinoya helped me see why I loved this job. It feels kind of good to have my badge back.”

“That’s the spirit! You’ll be back in the swing of things in no time!” Sawamura looked around, watching everyone rush around them. “Speaking of, what’s with the station today?”

Asahi gave a small smile, his shoulders creeping up a bit. “Apparently someone told the news about how we don’t have anything on the killer. They’re having a field day claiming we’re not doing anything to help the families and protect the people. The complaint line has been taking calls all morning.”

“Fuck.” Sawamura squeezed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a second. “Alright, I’m going to talk to Ukai. Then I’ll come back and see if I can help any.”

His friend straightened, tilting his head with concerned eyes. “Don’t worry so much, Daichi.” He gave a small grin and patted him the shoulder. “We all know you’re doing your best.”

Sawamura sighed and forced a smile, before turning away. A scowl grew on his face as he made his way to the back office. He had been working on this case from the beginning, and if they didn’t have any leads, it was because his best wasn’t good enough. If there was anyone to blame, it was him. He knocked on the door of the sheriff’s office, opening it when he heard an affirmative. “Hello, sir.”

“Yeah, Sawamura, I know what you’re going to say already.” The sheriff sat behind his desk, closing shut a file he was reading. “This has gone too far.”

“You do?” He cleared his throat. “Then should I make the call to Quantico?”

“I already did. They’re gonna send a team from the Behavioral Analysis Unit.” Ukai readjusted his headband, letting out a sigh.

Sawamura nodded, sucking his teeth for a moment. “Let’s hope they can help us get this guy.”


	2. Marionette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I introduce a few more characters and plot points in this chapter, hope you enjoy!

“We got another case?” Kuroo stepped into the meeting room, taking his spot at the table. “They gotta keep us knights busy, huh?”

“That joke will never be funny, Tetsu.”

“Oh come on!” Kuroo grinned at Oikawa, who was flipping through the case file. “We’re sitting at a round table, planning on protecting the innocent from the wicked. We’re totally King Arthur’s knights!”

Kenma hummed from his spot next to Kuroo, taking up the clicker at the center of the table and pointing it at the flat screen on the wall. “In any case, the past two weeks there have been three home invasions in a small city in upstate California.”

“Each one had no sign of fingerprints or residue left behind.” Oikawa spoke as copies of the photos they had in the folders in front of them flicked across the screen.

Narrowed gold eyes turned to meet Kuroo’s as he snorted. “Well, that’s easy enough to solve, the guy wore gloves and long sleeves. Any criminal with half a mind knows that.” 

Without acknowledging the statement, Oikawa continued. “It doesn’t look like he’s leaving a calling card at the scenes either.”

“Is there any correlation between the victims?”

“None that we know of. The police originally thought it to be a hate crime, since the two men killed at the first scene weren’t soulmates, but the families after that all consisted of couples who had verified words.” Oikawa shrugged, pausing to read some of the file.

"And at the last crime scene,” Kenma clicked the remote again and a picture of red words appeared on the screen, “they left behind a message.”

“So maybe the unsub has a list?” Kuroo narrowed his eyes at the screen, resting his chin in his palm. “Is he trying to warn us? Ask us for help?”

“Ah!” The door burst open and all eyes focused on the new arrival. “Good, you haven’t left.”

Oikawa wrinkled his nose. “What could you possibly want, Tobio? Could it be that you’ve finally realized your affinity for the circus and are resigning?”

The man blinked, before holding out another folder. “The police from Miyagi just sent this in, they’ve got another murder.” 

“Another?” Kuroo reached out and took it, frowning slightly. “The last one was two days ago, the unsub’s accelerating quickly. Thanks, Kageyama.”

Kageyama nodded, looking at Oikawa out of the corner of his eyes before turning around and leaving. Giving a small sound of interest, Kuroo pulled one of the photos out of the file and slid it to the center of the table. “Looks like he left another message.”

The words were once again written in blood, _I hate them _.__

__Kenma twisted his lip, chewing the inside of his cheek. “So they’re on a vendetta.”_ _

__“Maybe we missed something and they’re all connected. We’ll have to look into it more on the plane ride.” Oikawa stretched, before standing with a grin. “Let’s get our go bags and head to the runway!”_ _

__The brunette left the room and Kuroo reached for the photo of the newest message. “This time it was another family of three, a couple with verified words and a teenage daughter.”_ _

__Kenma hummed and stood, trying to hide how he was staring at the words tattooed to the inside of his elbow. His friend sighed, packing up his folder, and Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “You know, you should go say bye to the squirt.”_ _

__“Yeah, okay...”_ _

__Kuroo grinned as he shut his folder. “He’d like that.”_ _

__The plane ride would take just over five hours, and as Kuroo watched Kenma quickly leave the room, he thought about the words written on his own skin. Three separate sentences that would be spoken by the people he was meant to be with._ _

__It was odd that he hadn’t met any of them yet, even Oikawa had spoken to one of his. Why the brunette didn’t stay with his soulmate, Kuroo didn’t know, but no amount of prying got the story out of him. In any case, it didn’t matter. Oikawa’s business was Oikawa’s, and he’d definitely meet his soulmates eventually, right?_ _

__Kuroo shook his head and left the room with the folders under his arm. He watched as Hinata, a little orange-haired ball of energy that was Kenma’s soulmate, gave his friend a tight hug, before helping the blonde carry his travel bag to the door._ _

__He went into his office and grabbed his own bag, looking down at his phone for a moment. There weren’t any new notifications, but Kuroo stared at the background until it faded. The man turned around and quickly caught up with Kenma and Hinata waiting with them by the elevator to take them to the parking lot._ _

__Looking at the two out of the corner of his eye, Kuroo forced back a grin. Hinata was holding the bag in one hand and Kenma’s hand in the other. His friend had let his hair fall over his face as he tapped through e-mails on his phone, but neither seemed bothered by the lack of conversation. It was sweet._ _

__“Stop it.” Kuroo blinked, watching as Kenma locked his phone and looked up to narrow his eyes at Kuroo. “I know what you’re thinking and stop it.”_ _

__The man smirked, winking at Hinata. “I don’t know about you, but I’d consider myself lucky to have a soulmate as cute as the squirt.”_ _

__Hinata flustered, jerking Kenma’s hand around as he waved his arms through the air. “Ah! Agent Kuroo! That is – I’m sure –!”_ _

__Whatever Hinata was trying to say was cut off as the elevator opened. Kenma sighed and reached around to grab his bag from Hinata. The ginger was still trying to push through his sentence and Kuroo’s smile softened when he saw the two had yet to let go of the other’s hand._ _

__But as much as he hated to pull them apart, he couldn’t hold the open door button forever. “Come on, Kenma, we’ve got to get down to the parking garage. We’re gonna hit rush hour traffic on the way to the runway so the sooner we leave, the better.”_ _

__Hinata let out a yell, before pressing a kiss to Kenma’s cheek. “Safe travels! Good luck!”_ _

__“Thanks...” The blonde stepped into the elevator, the doors quickly closing behind him as Kuroo released the button. There was a moment of silence, the two of them watching the floor number slowly get smaller and smaller. Kuroo’s smirk had yet to fade, his chest expanding every time he was reminded of how sweet his friend’s soulmate was._ _

__Kenma scoffed. “Stop it.”_ _

__Fifteen minutes later and they were on the plane, preparing for take-off. Kenma immediately sat down and took out his computer, pulling up any information he could on the families to see if he could find any connection the cops missed. Occasionally he would let a huff, which Kuroo took to mean that a lead had fallen through._ _

__When they were in the air, Kuroo stood, walking over to the mini bar to pour himself a drink. Unfortunately there wasn’t any alcohol, but he made due with mixing sprite and orange juice._ _

__Oikawa was tapping on his phone, dropping a hand to grip the armrest whenever they hit turbulence. It was well-known that he was the worst flyer out of all of them. He plopped down in the seat across from Oikawa, humming as he took a sip of his drink. “So what have you got?”_ _

__“It seems that the lead detectives haven’t been handling the press all that well.” Oikawa rolled out his neck, before focusing again on his phone. “They’ve only held one press conference, and they only confirmed that the kills were connected and if anyone knew anything to bring it forward. There was also a recent leak that stated the police weren’t currently following any leads.”_ _

__“So basically it looks like they’re doing nothing, great.” Kuroo sighed and pulled at a strand of his bangs that fell in his eyes. “You’re going to have a field day doing clean-up.”_ _

__“I know! How am I supposed to say the FBI is stepping in without making the local police look like idiots?” Oikawa sealed his lips together and screamed. “It’s ridiculous.”_ _

__The sound of Kenma’s laptop closing broke into their conversation, before the man joined them with his case file in hand. “I couldn’t find any connection between the families. Some of them lived on opposite ends of Miyagi in completely different social and economic circles.”_ _

__“So is he just randomly picking families?” Kuroo opened his own file again, going through the notes of the crime scene. “He doesn’t have preference to the size of the family, or the genders of any of its members. We’ve had same-gender couples, both boy and girl children, no children – though that was with a pregnancy – there’s nothing we can draw from this. The unsub can overpower the fathers so it’s unlikely he’s not male and is probably in his thirties to forties. He skips over valuables so it’s not for the money, but he has done this before by the ease he breaks in.”_ _

__“Miyagi isn’t known for its safety.” Kenma fidgeted in his seat. “There’s been an increase in both home and non-home invasions. No way of tracing the unsub’s growth to murder.”_ _

__“The crime scene notes don’t give any sign of a signature either. But the most recent murder doesn’t have much on it yet. If there have been any new developments, it’ll be there.” Oikawa sighed, letting his head fall back against his chair and closing his eyes. “So we need to see the newest crime scene.”_ _

__Chewing the inside of his cheek for a second, Kuroo met Kenma’s eyes before sitting back and waiting the plane ride out._ _

__The police department was twenty minutes away from the airport, and he could feel the entire department’s eyes on them as the three agents made their way across the room. They were led by the sheriff to the back of the building._ _

__Kuroo whistled as he stepped into the conference room. The center of the room was taken by a long table, with a box on it presumably filled with the police’s investigation on the case. There was a TV on one end, showing a local newscast covering the story on mute. A large transparent board was in front of a window with its blinds closed, and its surface was already covered with pictures and written notes. On the far end of the room was a small table holding a coffee machine, with cups and sugar packets beside it._ _

__“This is pretty nice for a small town. Oh, sorry, small city. Didn’t expect this much.” Kuroo put his hands behind his head, smirking as he practically felt the sheriff tense._ _

__“Yes, well, we wanted to make sure you could get this case closed as quickly as possible.” The man crossed his arms, jerking his head out the door. “I’m going to go get the two lead officers on the case so you can discuss with them what they know.”_ _

__“Sure!” Oikawa waved the man out, smiling widely. “We’ll get settled while we wait.”_ _

__“Kuro...” The man looked at his friend, his smirk still not faded. “You’ve been here five minutes and you’re already getting on people’s nerves. Play nice.”_ _

__The man put a hand to his chest. “I’m always nice, Kenma, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”_ _

__“Oi, Oikawa?”_ _

__A voice cut in behind them and Kuroo turned around to stare at the new entrance. A built man in a blue uniform was staring with wide eyes at Oikawa, who had frozen in the middle of going through the files on the table. He looked between the two, and after another moment of silence, Kuroo’s smirk returned._ _

__“Ah, so you two know each other? Great, that’ll make communication between us and the department easier.”_ _

__“Kuro.” Kenma frowned, looking up from where he was setting up his computer. He also spared a look between their partner and the officer before letting out a sigh. “Nice to meet you, we’re a team from the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, my name is Kenma Kozume, the technical analyst.”_ _

__“Ah!” A voice came behind the uniform, and another officer stepped into the room. “Nice to meet you too. I’m Officer Sawamura and this is my partner Officer Iwaizumi. We’ve been on the case from the start.”_ _

__“Are you taking my job, Kenma?” Oikawa gave the smaller a grin, before smiling with his eyes closed at the officers. “Hello, I’m Tooru Oikawa, the liaison for the team.”_ _

__“And I’m Tetsurou Kuroo, now who wants to start the story of how you two know each other?” Kuroo clapped his hands, oblivious to the stares that were turned on him. “No one? Well, as long as it doesn’t affect our work it doesn’t matter,” Kuroo’s smile faded and his eyes turned serious, “right?”_ _

__Sawamura cleared his throat, shifting his feet as he looked at Iwaizumi for a moment. “Right. We need to catch this killer before he hurts anyone else.”_ _

__“Now you’re talking.” Kuroo pointed a finger gun at the officer and fired it. “The fourth murder took place last night? Has the crime scene been analyzed yet?”_ _

__“No, we were waiting to see if you could gather any data. I can take you there now if you’d like?”_ _

__“Sounds great! It’ll just be me though. Kenma is gonna stay here and set everything up,” he nodded at the smaller, who had started writing his own notes under the ones the police had made, “and these two are gonna talk out their differences!”_ _

__“What? Tetsu, you can’t expect me to –”_ _

__“Bye!” Kuroo grabbed Sawamura’s arm, pulling him out of the room quickly._ _

__There was silence for a few moments, Oikawa fiddling with his hands before moving over to help Kenma. The blonde immediately stopped, turned, and made his way to the door. “I’m going to ask the sheriff about the Wi-Fi password.”_ _

__The brunette scoffed, before crossing his arms and pouting. “Please, you could have hacked in their system and you know I know that, Kozu. So inconsiderate.”_ _

__“You risking this case not running smoothly is inconsiderate, Tooru.” Kenma left the room, closing the door behind him._ _

__“Well,” Iwaizumi rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat, “how have you been, Oikawa?”_ _


	3. Merry-Go-Round

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! Super sorry this is so late! Work has been hectic! But here it is! You get to meet Tsukishima and Akaashi! (Bokuto's mentioned)

“Here they come!”

Kuroo let out a sigh as they pulled up to the house, which was being swarmed by the press. “This is gonna be a fun one.”

Sawamura chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder before getting out of the car. Almost immediately he had to force his way through the crowd to get to the house. Kuroo sighed again, ran a hand through his hair, and joined the officer in making his way through.

“Detective Sawamura! Channel4 news, what do you have to say about the murder? What are you doing to prevent this from happening again?”

“Agent! There’s been speculation that the killer is a part of the police force, what are your thoughts on this?”

“Does the FBI plan on seizing control of the case?”

Kuroo shared a look with Sawamura, who was looking slightly queasy, before grinning at the camera and leaning a bit towards the microphones pointed at his face. “We plan on working in tangent with the local police force, other than that, no comment.”

The two made a final push through the crowd, dunking under the police tape wrapped around the front porch. Sawamura slipped a key into the lock, before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

“Brutal.” Kuroo let out a low whistle, lifting a curtain for a second to watch as each broadcaster turned to their company’s cameras and began speaking. A neighbor walked down the other side of the street, turning his head to watch as he passed. The entire city must be terrified about this killer, especially those in neighborhoods he’s already hit.

“Tell me about it.” Sawamura rubbed the back of his neck as he handed Kuroo a pair of foot covers to avoid contaminating the scene. “No matter how I phrased my words, they always seem to take it the wrong way.”

“That’s what our liaison, Oikawa, is for. He’s a pro at directing the press away from the wrong questions.” The agent slipped on latex gloves and started walking into the house.

“Yeah, about him.” Sawamura stepped past the other and started leading the way upstairs. “Do you have any idea how he and my partner met? I don’t recall any recent cases Iwaizumi’s took that involved the FBI.”

Kuroo hummed, stepping into the first room just to the left of the top of the stairs, the master bedroom. “Oikawa doesn’t go much into his past before the FBI, but if they had met on a case and he actually doesn’t like him, we’d never hear the end of it. But we haven’t, so...”

There were two matching blood-stains on the pillows, and a bit of splatter spray on the headboard. Above their bed the second message had been written. Kuroo pursed his lips and turned to look at the rest of the room.

“There was more mutilation this time?” The man glanced over at Sawamura for a second, who was staring at the picture of the family on the wall, the daughter smiling between her two parents. “He didn’t stop after killing them?”

“No, though the post-mortem wounds would have been more fatal than the gunshot wound to the head.”

Golden eyes closed for a second before continuing to look around the room. “He’s experimenting. Trying to figure out what he likes. We need to catch the bastard before he does.”

The wife’s jewelry lay untouched on top of the bureau, their makeup scattered across the connected bathroom counter. The drawers on the left side of the bureau were open or slightly ajar, clothes hanging out of them, while they were all closed tight on the right.

“Alright, let me see the girl’s room.”

Sawamura led him further down the hall and to the right, across from the bathroom. There were clothes scattered around the edge of the closet, obviously having been thrown there without a care. A corkboard hung on the wall beside the floor-length mirror, full of pictures of the smiling girl and others. The laptop was still on the desk, white headphones with speckles of red hanging off the edge.

“Is that –?”

“Blood? Yeah.” The officer lifted the headphones with his gloved hands, frowning at the specks. “The girl had been online, listening to music. Never heard him coming.”

Kuroo rolled out his shoulders and walked closer to the board of pictures. It seemed she had a large group of friends, or at least people she willing to take photos and smile with. There were a few of her with her parents at tourist locations, arms wrapped around each other.

“You said they were lower middle class, yeah? They looked content with their lives.” Kuroo turned to the bed, started going through the drawers in the bedside table. “The teenager was online? Any idea what site she was on?”

“Ah, Tumblr? Pandora?” The shorter gave a sheepish smile. “Something blue, we didn’t get to see the screen too well before it died. We were called out to greet you so we hadn’t plugged it in yet.”

“Cord’s over here by the bed, but we can just do it when we get back to the station. Kenma will want to go through it just in case so take it with you. ” Kuroo stood up, shaking his head. “There’s nothing connecting these victims, what could his target group be? Better yet, how is he choosing his victims? If we can figure that out maybe we’d be able to predict where he’ll go next.”

* * *

Tsukishima Kei was tired. Tired of hearing Bokuto’s alarm two hours before he had to wake up, tired of working at the local grocery store, tired of the news blowing up this murder case. It wasn’t that he didn’t _care_ , he’d just prefer not to hear about dead neighbors when eating his cereal.

He turned off the TV and stood with his empty bowl, before moving to the kitchen and dropping it in the sink. As he got ready for the day in the empty house, Tsukishima kept an eye out for a colorful post-it note. After Bokuto had gotten his new job, their schedules rarely ever matched up for them to spend more than an hour or two together. So instead, his boyfriend had taken to writing small notes on the sticky paper in the morning and hiding them around the house for Tsukishima to find.

Slipping on his green shirt and a pair of dark jeans, the blonde frowned as he grabbed his wallet and phone from his charger. He always thought the forest green cotton looked terrible on him, no matter what Bokuto might say.

It had been hard going from seeing each other every day to once every few days... so he had to appreciate the small things. Walking into the bathroom, Tsukishima shook off a smile and reached out to the mirror to pluck off the light purple note.

_Can’t wait to see you tonight! So excited to eat dinner together again!_

The sloppy letters were signed off with a heart and the man rolled his eyes before tossing it in the trash. There was no point in leaving a reply if Bokuto said he would be getting off early enough for them to share dinner.

Tsukishima started to brush his teeth, pressing a button on his phone to light up the screen. He had to leave soon, but since he only had to work a six hour shift today, he should be able to shop afterwards and pick up some meat to cook for the other.

Spitting out the toothpaste and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Tsukishima tapped his wet toothbrush on the side of the sink. Slipping it back into the holder next to his boyfriend’s, the blonde walked to the front door, grabbing his sneakers and sitting down to slip them on.

Bokuto had to take their car to the other side of town for work, but the grocery store wasn’t far enough that he couldn’t walk. Back when the other only had a part-time position at the local bar, they were able to carpool, but Bokuto had to leave too early in the morning now for it to be practical anymore.

Leaving the house and starting his walk down the street, Tsukishima watched as a batch of news reporters jumped around the house of the previous attack. There was a cop car out front, which made him smirk. It’s not like they would have gotten anything from the police, they’ve been tight-lipped about the case since the beginning.

The man continued out of the neighborhood, turning down a sidewalk that followed Main Street. It was only a fifteen minute walk at most, but Bokuto almost made him call in for work. It was ridiculous. What were the chances the killer would strike again so close to his previous victim?

Still, Tsukishima chewed the inside of his lip, not able to stop from noticing that as the path drew away from the road and started to go through a wooded area, it became less and less populated. His eyes darted from side to side and even though he cursed himself for his paranoia, the blonde reached into his pocket for his phone. Bokuto wouldn’t mind stepping away from his desk for a quick call, just until he reached the store.

But before he could pull his phone out, the man registered footsteps slamming against the concrete behind him. Raising his hands defensively, Tsukishima turned around just as a body barreled into him.

The two went down, and the taller grunted as his backside collided with the gravel.

“Shit! Get up! We need to run.”

Black hair shifted in his vision as the blonde stiffened, the words on his hip burning. He licked his lips and opened his mouth, suddenly overly aware of what his next words were going to be. A hand grabbed his wrist and he blinked rapidly as a strong tug helped him to his feet.

“Come on! You have a phone? Hurry, call the police.”

Green eyes looked urgently up into his, and the hand around his wrist started tugging him along the path. Tsukishima’s lower back burned from it hit the ground and he frowned. “Wait, at least give me a second to catch my breath.”

The man pulling him along jolted, turning around to stare at him. Tsukishima glanced down as the other’s hand rubbed against his ribs, before his face paled and his eyes widened in horror. Okay, not the reaction he was looking for.

“No!”

A sharp pain erupted from his back and Tsukishima choked. He hadn’t hit his back that hard, had he? The pain multiplied for a second and the last thing the blonde saw before he blacked out were hands reaching for his new soulmate.


	4. Jack-in-the-Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto enters in this one! I hope you like!

Just as Kuroo and Sawamura were walking back into the station, the officer’s cell phone rang and he answered it with a sigh. “Detective Sawamura. Go.”

A few seconds later and the man put a hand out to stop Kuroo from continuing into the station. The shorter sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah, alright. Text me the address. Thanks.”

The other looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Sawamura jerked his head over his shoulder with a grim smile. “Another murder scene was just found, seems it happened earlier today. Do you want to get one of your teammates, or are you good to go now?”

“I can just text them.” The two quickly walked back to the car and Kuroo let out a puff of air. “What the hell? The unsub’s spiraling. Not only did he attack during the day, but it’s been less than twenty-four hours since the last one.”

Sawamura grit his teeth, pulling out his keys and getting in the car. He looked down at his phone as it buzzed and scowled. “Son of a bitch.”

The other watched as he angrily started the car, getting in the passenger side and clipping on his seat belt. “What now?”

“The new crime scene is a block from the old one. We were right there, damn it!” Sawamura sucked in a breath and closed his eyes as he gripped the steering wheel. “We could have stopped it.”

“Woah, let’s not get into that.” Kuroo clapped the other’s shoulder, “We had no way of knowing what the unsub was doing. But the sooner we get to the crime scene, the sooner we can catch him.”

“Right.” The officer slowly opened his eyes and put the car in reverse, backing out of his parking spot. “We just need to catch this fucker.”

Just as Kuroo pulled out his own phone to tell his teammates he was headed out again, it rang. Oikawa’s caller id popped up and he answered with a frown. “Yeah?”

“So you’re headed to the house with the newest murder, right?” There was a soft murmur behind Oikawa, like rustling papers.

Kuroo hummed, checked both lanes out of habit as Sawamura pulled out of the station parking lot. “Yeah, just leaving.”

“Alright. Well, apparently a jogger found a patch of blood on a path not too far from the house, but no body to go with it. Could be one of the victims escaped and the unsub caught up to him. Me and...Iwaizumi are going to check it out.”

Sawamura turned his lights on, started speeding down the road and Kuroo sucked his teeth. “Sounds good. Let us know what you find.” The agent hung up, and relayed the information to the driver as he reached up to rub at a knot growing in his shoulder.

The sun was setting, casting a bright red glow over everything and Kuroo rolled out his neck. If one of the family members escaped, it’s possible they might still be alive. The unsub could’ve made a mistake. They’d probably take dogs to the trail, hopefully the blood would lead them to a witness. This was going to be a long night. 

He wished he’d been smart enough to think about running inside the station to grab some coffee.

* * *

Akaashi fell to his knees as he was thrown into a room, woozy as he woke up. He vaguely heard the door slam shut behind him, and his eyes fluttered as his hand rubbed against the puncture mark on his neck. He had been drugged. Letting out a groan, the man turned around to sit on the ground, squinting at the door.

He grit his teeth, sucked in a deep breath. With every moment his head became clearer, though the man couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or not. The blonde from before was one of his soulmates, was he alright?

Akaashi shook his head, but that only made him feel dizzier. Looking around the room, he frowned. It was woefully bare, the cement walls giving away nothing as to where he could be. The floor was carpeted, marks where furniture used to stand, but that didn’t help any either.

The man jerked at the sound of the lock turning and forced himself to his knees, halfway to standing as the door swung open and a body was thrown in front of him. His eyes focused on the blonde hair as the door closed and locked again.

His hands shook as he reached out for his soulmate, still unconscious, and tried to carefully turn him over onto his stomach. The other’s body flopped over halfway through and Akaashi winced, swallowing back the knot in his throat as he stared down at the stained shirt.

The dark patch around the hole in the green shirt had to be blood and as he tried to the lift the shirt away from the other’s skin, it came away slowly, sticking to the taller’s skin. The blonde groaned, and Akaashi squeezed his eyes shut as he quickly forced the shirt all the way up the other’s shoulders.

Forcing himself to breathe, he opened his eyes and covered his mouth to choke back the bile that rose in his throat. He had seen the knife go in, seen the killer pull it out to get closer to him, but the actual wound seemed so much scarier.

It didn’t _look_ like it could’ve hit vital organs, it was on the far right side, just above the hip. But it looked like so much blood and the torn skin...

“Ah...Has to be bad...right...”

The whispered voice made Akaashi press his lips together in a firm line, before taking off his shirt and starting to clean around the edges of the wound. “You’ll be okay.”

“Good, we’ve got an optimist...” the blonde winced and Akaashi mumbled an apology before continuing, “You’ve got to meet...Bokuto...”

He looked up, just as gold eyes closed and didn’t open again. “Hey, come on, keep your eyes open. Who’s Bokuto? What’s your name?”

There wasn’t a response and Akaashi swore, continuing to try and clean the wound. The sick fuck who took them might be watching, so he tried to keep his face expressionless, but it was hard when it didn’t look like he was making much progress. Blood still seeped out of the wound, started to drip down the side.

The door unlocked again and Akaashi looked up for a second before pressing his already ruined t-shirt onto the wound. Pressure helped bleeding, right? He had to get his soulmate out of here alive, he deserved to live.

His parants... The man blinked, saw his mother’s body prone on the floor, his father falling next to her at the sound of a muffled pop. Blood was, blood was everywhere. Akaashi looked at his now bloody hands, his throat closing. They had to be dead. He hadn’t stayed to check. He had run. And now one of his soulmates was in danger because of it.

The door swung open and a box was thrown down just in front of his soulmate’s body. Akaashi’s eyes widened at the familiar red cross, before looking up in shock as the door slammed shut once more.

“What? I don’t – I can’t, he needs a doctor!” Akaashi yelled at the door, hoping the psycho was still there. “This isn’t something a first aid kit can fix!”

There was no response and the man swallowed roughly, setting his shirt aside to reach across the blonde, grabbing the kit. Blood smeared across the white container from his hands but Akaashi ignored that as he flicked open the latches on the side.

Guaze, antibiotic, a needle, and what he hoped was surgical thread were the only things inside the box. With shaky hands, the man put the box on the ground and grabbed the needle and thread, sitting back to try and push the string through the small hole at the tip.

What felt like an eternity passed and Akaashi bit his lip as his nail failed to force the thread through once again. Tears pricked in his eyes and he looked up at the ceiling. “I can’t do this! You want him alive, right?” Please want him alive. “He needs a doctor!”

There was no answer and Akaashi took a shuddering breath. His shirt was still on the floor, covered in blood and the room was starting to get colder. Goosebumps rose on his arms as he looked at the still bleeding wound on his soulmate’s back, before the man hunched his shoulders and tried to thread the needle again.

* * *

Bokuto’s leg jumped against the floor of the car and he had to shift so it wouldn’t hit the wheel. He was waiting outside the employee entrance, eyes locked on the door. Tsukishima didn’t know he was coming to pick him up, but it was supposed to be a surprise!

Which was why he was willing to wait for fifteen minutes after his boyfriend’s shift ended. Sure, the other was always gone the minute he could leave, but he didn’t know Bokuto was here so maybe he had decided to wait until the person who was taking over for him showed up?

The door opened and Bokuto jerked forward, a grin on his face as he watched...someone who was not Tsukishima walk out the door. He frowned and slumped back, checking his phone for the tenth time to make sure the other hadn’t texted him about staying overtime.

Nothing.

Bokuto brought his eyebrows together, before pulling into a parking spot and getting out of the car. He’d just go in to check if Tsukishima was still there. Maybe he left early? Bokuto had wanted to drive him home like old times, but it was good if Tsukishima was already cooking dinner. He was _starving_.

Walking in through the back entrance – they didn’t lock it up until closing – Bokuto made his way to the front of the store. He spotted a manager, and with a grin, hailed her over with a wave over his head.

The woman came over with a frown, and Bokuto hesitated as he let his hand fall back to his side. “Hey, have you seen Kei?”

“Guy never showed up for his shift. Didn’t answer any calls either.” The woman crossed her arms and popped a hip. “Care to tell me why?”

“What?” Bokuto blinked, had Tsukishima gotten sick and forgotten to call in? “I don’t know, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, whatever.” The manager waved a hand over her shoulder, calling back to him as she walked away. “Tell him he’s lucky we’re understaffed and not to be late tomorrow.”

”Sure!” Bokuto blinked, rubbed the back of his neck, before shrugging and turning around to leave the store. He wondered why his boyfriend skipped his shift. He’d ask when he got home.


	5. Cat's Cradle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being so much longer and harder to write than I was expecting. Thanks for reading!

Flashing lights surrounded the house, and the front yard was completely roped off with yellow tape. Sawamura pulled up next to another cop car, quickly getting out with Kuroo not far behind him.

“Sawamura!” A man in uniform came jogging up, a tight-lipped smile on his face.

“Hey, Ennoshita.” Sawamura met him halfway, lifted the yellow tape for Kuroo before slipping under himself. “What are we looking at here?”

“A husband and wife, with verified words, but it looked like someone else was staying at the house too. There’s a third car sitting in the driveway, we’re running the license plate number now.” Ennoshita nodded at Kuroo, extending his hand for the agent to shake. “Officer Ennoshita Chikara. I’ve been helping with the case as much as I can.”

He took the hand giving it a firm grip, “Kuroo Tetsurou. Wish we weren’t meeting under these circumstances,” the man nodded over at the covered stretchers coming out of the house, “I’m going to go take a look at the bodies, if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll come with you.”

The three made their way over to the body bags, and Kuroo held up a hand to stop their progress. He unzipped the first one and immediately frowned. “No signs of postmortem wounds?”

“No,” Ennoshita watched as Sawamura walked to the other bag and opened it, “we’re thinking that someone came along and interrupted him. Maybe the owner of the third car. He probably left behind his victims to give chase.”

“So we need to figure out who that person is.” Kuroo stepped back with Sawamura and waved the gurneys on their way. “If they got away, they’re a crucial witness. If not and we haven’t found a body, it means that the unsub’s taken a hostage. Which is a huge change in M.O.”

Ennoshita nodded, started walking towards the house. “That just means we have to find them quickly.”

The three stepped through the doorway, Sawamura squatting down to stare at the lock. “Well, it looks like he forced his way in through this door. Strange because he picked the locks on all his other invasions.”

“In broad daylight that would have been difficult. He wouldn’t have enough skill to charm his way in, he probably was only able to kill the two due to shock factor.” Kuroo frowned down at the two splotches of blood in the entranceway. “Both people rush to the sound of the door bursting open, but one person gets there first and gets a gunshot to the head for it – most likely silenced – and when the other arrives, they immediately focus on their fallen partner. That gives the unsub time to shoot the other, but he hadn’t been planning on a witness. Since he changed from night to day attacks, and didn’t plan this one through enough, we can assume he’s starting to unravel.”

They continued further into the house, though nothing seemed out of place. Ennoshita nodded at one of the photographers who was passing them on their way out. “Our theory is that the killer didn’t even get this far into the house. He killed the couple, was interrupted, and immediately gave chase.”

Sawamura frowned, looking over the house. “He wouldn’t have had time to leave a message, or do any torture.”

A cop from outside called for Ennoshita and the man nodded at the two before ducking out of the building. The two followed to the front of the house, but Kuroo paused at the bloodstains.

“It’s strange.” Kuroo shook his head, kneeling down by the stains. “There’s been no signs of deterioration in the unsub’s mindset other than an escalated time plan. This attack is so much more risky than the other ones. There were plenty of opportunities for neighbors to see or hear and yet the unsub still went through it. What could have them so impatient?”

The two heard more sirens approach the house, and looked out the door as another police car pulled up. The doors opened and Oikawa came jogging up with Iwaizumi behind him. “We couldn’t find any body on the scene, but the dogs are spreading the search radius.”

“Maybe we should...” Sawamura paused as his phone went off and he gave a sheepish smile as he pulled it out to check it. He paused for a moment as he stared at the ID, before locking the screen and putting it away. “Maybe we should go to the neighbors. If anyone saw or heard anything, it might help with our search.”

“I’ll do that!” Two white vans pulled up in front of the police tape, people holding cameras jumping out almost immediately. “Ah, never mind. I better handle the press.”

Ennoshita walked back up to the group, nodding at Oikawa and Iwaizumi. “The car was registered to a Keiji Akaashi, the couple’s son. We’re trying his cell phone now, but who knows how much luck we’ll have?”

“Would we be alright with sharing that with the press?” Oikawa took out his phone, started typing. “I can pull up a picture to show them. If he’s on...ok, good, he’s got a Facebook. If we get the word out, we might find him faster. Someone could have seen him.”

“Iwaizumi and I can go door to door, the people here know us.” Sawamura clapped Kuroo on the shoulder, giving him a nod and handing him his keys. “Why don’t you go back to the station? Give Agent Kozume that laptop, maybe we can find something on it.”

Kuroo nodded, raising an eyebrow when the other’s phone went off again. The officer pulls it out, frowned at the ID and pressed end before putting it away again. Almost immediately, the phone started ringing again. The agent chuckled. “Maybe you should get that.”

Waving his hand in the air, Sawamura took the phone out and walked away as he brought it to his ear. Iwaizumi shook his head with a small smile, before he nodded to Kuroo. “See you back at the police station.”

“Look, I know you’re freaking out right now, but it’s possible he’s just staying...” Kuroo was tempted to listen in on what was so urgent for Sawamura, but started making his way towards the car.

He nodded to Oikawa who was smiling pleasantly at the cameras and calmly taking the questions directed at him while holding his phone out to the cameras. He gave a small hair flip as he laughed at something one of the press had said and Kuroo rolled his eyes as he slid into the driver’s seat.

As he drove back to the station, the man tapped his hands against the wheel. Was the unsub a family annihilator or did they have a different motive? They had seemed to do at least a little research on their victims so how had they not known the visitor wasn’t home?

Kuroo shook his head, pulling into a parking spot and grabbing the laptop he had left in the passenger seat. If the unsub was unraveling there was no way to figure out what their motive for killing was now.

He walked into the station, starting when he found it nearly deserted. There was a large man with a bun, who nodded at him as he passed, but other than that no one was here. Glancing over at the clock hanging on the far wall, he blinked. It was well past eleven.

Opening the door to their conference room, Kuroo choose the seat across from Kenma and slid the laptop over to him. The smaller was staring at his computer screen with a bored expression and gave that same look to the laptop he was holding. “What.”

“This belonged to the girl in the previous murder. Maybe you could find something useful out of it?”

Kenma chewed his cheek before opening the computer and grabbing a cord from his bag. As he was connecting it to his own computer, he looked up at Kuroo. “You know this is a stretch.”

“It’ll have to do for a start.” He shrugged, standing back up and moving to the coffee machine. “We’re gonna need to use everything we’ve got Kenma, it’s looking like he took a hostage.”

The other hummed, started running a program before rolling his eyes. “Sometimes people are stupid with passwords.”

“Oh? What was it this time?” Kuroo started the coffee machine, watched the ambrosia drip down into his cup.

“3456.”

The taller snorted, grabbed his cup, and took his seat back. “Well, hey, at least it wasn’t password.” Kuroo heard voices outside the room, and he tilted his head, recognizing them as Sawamura and Daichi as they greeted that cop outside. “Oh, and the missing guy’s name is Keiji Akaashi. See what you can pull up on him.”

Kenma muttered to himself, but started his search, just as the officers opened the door and stepped in.

Sawamura pinched his nose, sliding into a chair next to Kuroo. “The neighbors told us that the couple’s son, Keiji, was visiting for the weekend. Since we’ve tried to contact him multiple times, we’re assuming he was the witness and is currently missing.”

“Two of the neighbors said they might have seen the man running, but apparently he was an avid runner and they paid it no mind. Didn’t look long enough to see anyone behind him.” Iwaizumi leaned against the door jam, watching Kenma type at his computer, hooked up to the victim’s. “Does he ever blink?”

“No.” Kuroo and Kenma answered simultaneously, and the taller turned to smirk at Iwaizumi.

Oikawa walked in with a yawn, sucking his teeth as he stared at the clock on the wall. “As much as I wanna catch this guy as soon as possible, we’re going to need some sleep. How about we reset and pick up in the morning? If a body hasn’t been retrieved yet, it’s obvious he’s keeping the Akaashi kid for a reason.”

Kuroo nodded, stretching his arms over his head as he stood up. “You know you can’t call him a kid, he’s twenty-six years old.”

The brunette huffed, scowling as Kenma continued to work. “He’s a kid to me. Kozu, come on.”

“I literally just started to work, I’ll be fine.” Kenma continued to stare at his screen and entered a few prompts.

“It’s alright.” Sawamura nodded at Oikawa, who just blinked at him. “I’ll stay here too. I was scheduled the midnight shift with Asahi anyways.”

“Well, it’s not like we’ll be much help here at the moment.” Kuroo stretched as he stood up, patting the officer on the shoulder as he walked away. “Iwaizumi, you’re heading out too?”

The officer hesitated and spared a glance at Oikawa, who was pointedly ignoring him, before giving a nod. “Yeah, I’ll head home.”

Oikawa huffed and walked out of the room, brushing past the shorter on his way out. Kuroo shrugged before turning to smirk at the two still seated. “See you two bright and early tomorrow.”

The agent also walked past Iwaizumi, who was staring at the ground with a tight expression. Humming to himself, Kuroo put his hands behind his head as he walked out of the station, wondering what the deal between the officer and Oikawa actually was.

The next morning had them back in the conference room, going over notes they’ve already read and trying to think of new connections that could have the killer choosing his victims.

“Oh.” Kenma looked up from the girl’s computer for a second before switching to looking at his own screen. “I may have something.”

“Really?” Kuroo looked up from his second cup of coffee in the last half hour and closed the file on the latest murder. “Thank god because we weren’t figuring anything out from that crime scene.”

“What it is, Kozu?” Oikawa put down his phone, “there are some news stations already asking for an interview, if we could give them something new it would help get them on our side.”

“The girl posted about going to the zoo a few days ago... the other families,” Kenma sucked on the inside of his cheek as he looked at his screen, before he nodded, “they all went to the same zoo a week or so before their murders.”

“We’ve,” Kuroo blinked as he stood, a smile growing on his face, “we’ve got a connection? Aw, man, you’re awesome, Kenma!”

The other frowned, not looking up from his computer. “I should have made the connection sooner. A similar purchase between all the victims should have caught my eye immediately.”

“It wasn’t like the purchases were close to each other or relatively close to the time of the murder, and it’s something anyone could have overlooked! We don’t expect you to be perfect, Kozu! The thing that matters is we know it now.”

“What about the latest victims? The Akaashi’s? Do you know if they went?” Sawamura leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, the bags under his eyes showed he hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

Kenma hummed, clicked on a few things on his screen. “There’s a charge on the mother’s credit card for entrance to the same zoo yesterday. For three.”

Kuroo nodded, standing up for the table. “Let’s call the department together.”


	6. Jump Rope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a lot harder to get out than I expected and I'm still not entirely happy with how it turned out but ah well.

“We’re looking for a Caucasian man in his late twenties or early thirties who is physically fit. He was able to overpower and get away with Akaashi Keiji.” Kuroo stood at the back of the police station, in front of the conference room.

“Though he’s probably not very educated! He’s got a high school degree at most, and his aggressive, erratic behavior has probably caused problems with authority figures his whole life. He won’t follow what we consider basic societal behavior. He doesn’t care about the ‘rules’ that people normally behave by.” Oikawa smiled at the gathered officers. “He’s combustible. He’s the type of man that, if he approached, a mother would herd children away from.”

“He’s either a worker or a frequent visitor of the local zoo, we’re having the FBI analyst go over files now, and we’ll let you know if any suspects pop up, but for now coordinate with the security at the zoo to keep the attendees safe.” Nodding at some of the men and women that he knew had rounds that passed by the zoo, Sawamura crossed his arms. “Make sure not to assign guilt too quickly. Radio back to the station to report a suspicious character, and don’t approach until you’ve got a confirmation to do so. This guy’s dangerous and we can’t risk letting cop killer get on his rep list.”

“If he is an employee at the zoo, it will be just one in a long string of jobs. He won’t be able to hold it for long.” Kuroo brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes. “He’s what we call a family annihilator, though his tactics have recently changed. Until we’ve found a body, we’re assuming that he still has Keiji Akaashi. The sooner we catch this guy, the more likely it will be that we’ll find him alive.”

The sheriff nodded and stepped forward. “Alright, everyone that’ll be all. Keep your eye out!”

The gathered cops called out assent, before dispersing back to their desks. Kuroo turned to Sawamura and gave a grin. “What do you say about a trip to the local zoo? I’ve been meaning to go sight-seeing.”

The officer rolled his eyes but nodded his head. “Yeah, let’s go. I’ll grab Iwaizumi.”

“Perfect.” Watching as Oikawa walked in the opposite direction, bringing his phone to his ear.

Kenma stepped out of the conference room, looking down at his own phone. “If we knew the trigger that set him off, it would be easier. Do you know how many people go to the zoo?”

“It has to do with something about the unsub’s family, but this guy isn’t feeling any remorse about killing other people.” Kuroo rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe there was someone he despised that had died, ripping away his chance to kill that person?”

“Well, except for the most recent one, the killings were all of whole families, as in, none of the immediate family members had moved out, maybe that has something to do with it?” Iwaizumi nodded to the two of them as he walked over with his partner. “He could have been kicked out or someone could have moved away that he wished hadn’t.”

“We just need more information.” Stretching his arms in the air, Kuroo shook his head. “Hopefully we can get some answers by asking around at the zoo.”

Kenma hummed and turned around, walking back into the conference room. Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow after him, but followed the other two as they started to walk out of the building. “He...doesn’t say much, does he?”

“Nah, but Kenma’s good at what he does.” Kuroo smirked over at Iwaizumi as his partner unlocked the car. “He helps our team flow.”

The three of them climbed into the patrol car, Sawamura driving, Kuroo in the passenger, and Iwaizumi in the back. There was silence as they pulled out of the parking lot, and the agent slowly started to smirk.

“So, Oikawa.” Kuroo leaned back in his seat, looking over at the officer in the back. “You guys hooked up or what?”

Iwaizumi’s eye twitched and the agent watched in amusement as the other swallowed back a snap. Sawamura spared his partner a look in his rearview mirror, shifting in his seat, before focusing solely on the road.

So he had his go ahead then. Sawamura was curious too, which gave Kuroo all the leg room he needed to get information out of the guilty party. They pulled onto the highway, and the man rolled out his neck. Speaking of...

“The silent type, huh?” Kuroo watched as the man crossed his arms and glared out the window. “You know, Oikawa mentioned once that he had two soulmates,” Iwaizumi shifted, and the agent marked that as a sensitive topic, “even said he had met one of them, but never told us any more than that. You wouldn’t happen to know anything, would you?”

The man licked his lips, and continued to stare out the window, but Kuroo was patient. After five minutes of silence, and trying to subtly shift away from the pain gathering in his lower back from twisting in the front seat, the agent continued to watch Iwaizumi closely.

“Were you two together before he found his soulmate? Were you the one who confessed to him?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “Is it one-sided?”

“Look.” The man turned to the interrogator, a scowl set on his face. “I don’t get why you’re so interested in this. What happened with me and Oikawa is in the past. We’re not going to let it affect this case.”

“Ah, so something _did_ happen then?” Iwaizumi twitched, narrowing his eyes at Kuroo’s smirk. “Was it tragic and heartbreaking? Please, do share with the class.”

There was silence again, the only sound was the car’s blinker as Sawamura took an exit off the highway, signs on the side of the road directing people to the zoo. It only took a minute to reach the parking lot, and Sawamura started driving around, looking for a spot.

Iwaizumi sighed, “If I tell you, will you shut up about it?” He spared a glance at Sawamura before rolling up the sleeve of his uniform. He turned his arm to Kuroo, watching with smug satisfaction as the man’s eyes widened. “These were the first words he said to me.”

“You two are...”

Sawamura jerked into a parking spot, twisting around to stare at his partner in shock. The other gave a grim smile. “We had been together since middle school. After we both decided to join the force, we bought an apartment together. I thought we were content, even without having found our third soulmate. But then Oikawa applied to a position in the FBI behind my back. When he got the job, I was angry. He was only twenty-five, had only been working as an officer for three years. Not only that, but he had gone behind my back.” Iwaizumi shook his head, unbuckled his seat belt and rolled his sleeve back down. “But I was prepared to go with him, to go across the country to start a new life together. Then he told me not to follow him and left. Guess he didn’t want anything holding him back.”

“I’m gonna kill him.” Sawamura tightened his grip on the steering wheel, debating whether or not he should start driving back to the station. “You’re losing a partner, Agent Kuroo, ‘cause I’m gonna kill him.”

Iwaizumi gave another sigh, “It’s fine, Daichi. Sugawara and I are talking, I think, I think we can work it out.”

“Sugawara?” Kuroo tipped his head back, looked between the two.

“My second soulmate. He’s a crime scene photographer.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Have you told Oikawa that?”

“He’s barely spoken a word to me.” Iwaizumi scowled and shook his head. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

The man stepped out of the car, leaving behind the other two as he walked towards the entrance of the zoo. Watching as Sawamura jammed his keys into his pocket and got out of the car, Kuroo frowned. So Iwaizumi and Oikawa were soulmates, huh?

He followed behind the two officers, slowly scanning the parking lot. It was a quiet day, and as they stepped up to the entranceway, all they had to do was show their badges and explain the situation before being allowed in. Kuroo would have to ask Oikawa about his side of the story, though the romantic in him was already hoping they would get together again. He’d have to mention the other soulmate too, it didn’t seem fair to not give Oikawa that chance.

As they walked around the zoo, they stopped any employee that they found, asking about a person matching their description. They were reaching the back of the zoo with no luck, before someone who worked with the tigers started nodding his head.

“Yeah, yeah, I think I know a guy like that. He worked here until just yesterday. He got caught stealing tranquilizer so they fired him on the spot.” The man shook his head. “Who knows what he’d even be using that for.”

“Do you remember his name?” Sawamura pulled out a pen and paper, held it out to him.

The employee rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, I never really saw him much, we didn’t share the same shift. I think it was something like Kenneth or Kennan or something.” He pointed over his shoulder. “But my manager will know, you want me to get him?”

“Actually, we need to get back to the station.” Looking up at the sky, Kuroo frowned at how late it had gotten. “Kenma could have found something by now.”

“Do you mind asking him to come down to the station later?” Iwaizumi grabbed Sawamura’s pen and paper and wrote down a number. “Have him call this number, it shouldn’t matter the time.”

The man nodded, took the piece of paper and slipped it into his pocket. “Alright. I’ll be sure to let him know.”

“Thanks for your time.” Kuroo grinned, turning and leading the way out of the zoo. “Okay, so we’ve got a partial name, and we know he used to be an employee.” Iwaizumi nodded, his jaw tight. “We’re on this bastard’s trail.”

* * *

The station was busy again, apparently the press had replayed Oikawa’s statement from last night and everyone was calling in with tips about the killer. Not many of which were actually helpful, but maybe they’d get lucky.

Kuroo walked into the conference room with the two officers, prepared to give Kenma the new information but stopped as he saw the other’s fingers flying across his board. His friend was chewing his cheek, not a good sign.

The TV at the end of the room went black, and Kenma stopped, his head jerking up to look at it. His eyes narrowed, before he focused on his laptop screen, fingers once more moving rapidly across the keyboard. “We’ve been hacked.”

“What? By the unsub?” Kuroo watched as the screen turned green before transitioning into a video.

“Please, give him back! I just need – ” Chills run down Kuroo’s spine, eyes widening as he stared at the frantic face on the screen. The words sprawled across his calf burned.

“Shut up! You can have the bastard back after! Now do it!” A gruff voice spoke off screen, and they watched as the man closed his eyes and bit his lip.

When the other opened his eyes again, his face looked calm. “My name is Keiji Akaashi, I’m being held hostage by the,” the man took a shuddering breath, black eyes flicking up above the camera for a moment, “by the Dollhouse Butcher.”

“That’s the name the press gave him.” Oikawa frowned.

Now that the initial shock was over, Kuroo quickly found anger filling his chest. “Kenma! Are you tracking this fucker?”

Gold eyes looked up at him for a minute, blinking before turning back to his computer. “I’m trying, obviously. But he’s bouncing off a different tower every few seconds. Some are even international. I can’t get a hold on it.”

Kuroo turned back to the screen, arms crossed tight over his chest. There were dark red marks around Akaashi’s neck and a thin cut across his forehead that had scabbed over. His shoulders were shaking, but that could be due to him being shirtless and cold. His black hair was a mess of greasy curls and there were bags under his eyes.

This was not how he imagined seeing one of his soulmates for the first time.

“He wants an armored truck with its tank full and two millions dollars on the passenger seat.” There was the sound of something metal clanging and though Akaashi’s facial expression didn’t change, the flinch said enough.

“...Otherwise, he’ll kill me and his other hostage, Kei Tsukishima.” The dark eyes stared straight at the camera, straight at Kuroo.

“A second hostage?” Pulling out his phone, Oikawa furrowed his eyebrows. “Who’s Kei Tsukishima?”

“Shit.” Sawamura sucked in a breath, drawing the attention of the others in the room. He grimaced. “I know him.”

“He expects the ransom to be delivered in twenty-four hours, to the front of the Fukurodani warehouse. A single person should drive the truck, drop it off, and then immediately leave. Any variation to this will result in the hostages getting their faces blown off.” There was a tremble in the other’s voice, jerking at Kuroo’s heart, but otherwise Akaashi’s face remained neutral.

After a moment of silence, where Akaashi said nothing, the screen went black and Kenma let out a small groan of frustration. Oikawa sucked on his teeth, before spinning in his chair. “That didn’t make any sense.”

Iwaizumi rubbed the back of his neck, still not looking directly at the brunette. “He made a ransom claim, how does that not make sense?”

“He shouldn’t have been smart enough to hack the station.” Kenma narrowed his eyes. “Shouldn’t have been able to avoid me tracking him.”

“Could he have a partner?” Even as his foot tapped against the ground, it took everything he had not to storm out of the room. “It wasn’t in the initial profile, but he could have someone pulling the strings.”

Oikawa hummed, looked over at Sawamura. “You know the second hostage, right? Are they good enough with computers that, if forced, they could do this?”

“I don’t know. He worked at the local grocery store.” The officer shook his head, pulled out his phone and made his way out of the room. “I need to make a call.”

“Well, at least we can gather a few things from that.” Leaning back to glare at the cieling, Oikawa tapped his chin. “This is the first time he’s tried to directly contact us, so we know he’s nervous. We must be getting too close for his comfort. And even if we assume he was good enough with computers to give Kenma the slip, he wasn’t too smart about his demands. He must be nearby the Fukurodani warehouse. We’ll need to get a warrant and search the area around it.”

Kuroo nodded, still glaring at the TV as it went back to showing the news. “He’s confident we’ll deliver, which makes him easy to mislead. If he had wanted a bigger response, the unsub would have streamed the video to the press not to the police station.”

Kenma hummed, and Kuroo peeked over his shoulder as he pulled up information on Kei Tsukishima. “The hostage wasn’t blindfolded.”

“Shit.” Gritting his teeth together, Kuroo forced himself to calmly walk to the coffee machine.

“I don’t follow.” Iwaizumi looked between the two, though neither seemed to want to provide an answer.

Shaking his head, Oikawa continued his stare-off with the ceiling.  “It means that unless the unsub has been wearing a mask, which is unlikely seeing as he didn’t make an appearance, Akaashi has seen the killer’s face. And what serial killer would let a witness that could identify him go? Let alone live.”

“He plans on killing Akaashi whether or not we give him what he wants.” Kuroo rolled out his neck and put on a grin. “Well, that just means we have to work fast, right?”


	7. Tug of War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's been reading, leaving kudos, and commenting!

“The warrant just came back from the judge, apparently the sheriff had connections in the court that could speed up the process.” Oikawa leaned over Kenma’s shoulder, watching him work.

Brushing back his hair, Kuroo felt the buzz from his coffee kicking in. “We need to get out there. The sooner we can scope out the scene, the better.” The clock was ticking on the ransom notice, just twenty hours to go now.

The sun was going down, and who knows what the unsub could be doing to Akaashi.

“Oh, yeah.” Oikawa ignored Kenma leaning away from him and glared over the smaller’s computer. “You don’t normally lose your cool so easily, what had you riled up about Keiji?”

“He’s,” fuck, even thinking about made him sick to his stomach and he took another gulp of coffee, “he’s one of my soulmates.”

“Holy shit.” Mouth falling open, Oikawa gaped at the other.

Kenma stared for a minute before going back to his computer, pulling up a map. “This is the layout of the Fukurodani warehouse from outside.”

“What’s in the surrounding area?” Kuroo cracked his fingers, tried to focus on the task at hand and not his partner staring at him.

Kenma was about to answer, only to be interrupted as Sawamura opened the door of the conference room. He peeked his head in, and though it seemed a bit flushed, his voice was even. “Hey, the manager from the zoo just called. He’s coming in now.”

“Great! If he could give us the name, we might be able to get some leverage on the unsub.” Letting out a hum, Oikawa cupped his mouth. “I’d like to be here to talk to the manager, but it might be best for me to be at the scene as a negotiator.”

“Ah, that’s alright. I’m pretty sure he’ll be cooperative.” The agents all stared as a blush grew on Sawamura’s face.

“If you’re sure.” Watching the man nod and leave the room, Oikawa nodded his head. “Alright, so that means Kuroo and I will be on the scene, and Kenma will stay here?”

Dyed blonde hair shifted as the man shrugged his shoulders, “By the time you two are at the scene, my work will be done anyways.”

“Good,” Kuroo nodded his head, convinced himself they’d get there in time, “good. What was that layout again?”

“The warehouse is on the edge of a river, and the surrounding lots are still under construction and should be vacated.” Iwaizumi walked into the room, crossed his arms and jerked his head over his shoulder. “But the sheriff wants to clear those lots just in case. The SWAT team is here.”

“Alright, thanks, Haji –” the entire room watched as Oikawa cut himself off and cleared his throat, “Iwaizumi. Let the sheriff know we’ll be there shortly.”

The officer hesitated, looked like he wanted to say something, but turned and left. Oikawa pinched the bridge of his nose and Kuroo downed the last of his coffee, before patting his partner on the shoulder.

Shrugging him off, Oikawa scowled and walked to the door. “Forget it, Kuroo. I don’t want to hear it. Someone will let you know what channel we’re on for the comm, Kenma.”

The analyst narrowed his eyes, flicking them up to his friend. “He never calls me Kenma.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Kuroo waved his hand over his shoulder as he followed the other. “Why am I always on damage control?”

He stepped out into the station, following behind Oikawa, who was moving to the front of the station and presumably where the sheriff was waiting with the SWAT team.

“You have to tell me something!”

Kuroo jerked to a stop, head twisting to stare across the station as a tingling sensation crawled across his back. The words had carried over the lull of a station focused on capturing a murderer, but suddenly it seemed completely quiet.

There was a man talking to an officer, black and white hair hanging over his eyes. A hand lifted and carded through it, pushing it back from wide golden eyes and making the bags underneath them more prominent. “There’s gotta be something you can tell me! I need to know if Kei Tsukishima is okay! How have you not found him yet? There’s a ransom, yeah? Pay it!”

He stepped forward, ready to intercept the conversation when Oikawa grabbed him by the hand and started pulling him in the opposite direction. It seemed he had gotten over whatever mood Iwaizumi had put him in. “Come on! The sheriff wants to prep us with the SWAT team!”

“But there’s – he’s...” Kuroo pulled back, head twisting to stare at the man still talking to the officer, his hands franticly moving. 

He watched as Sawamura walked up to the man, slowly calming him down and leading him away. Kuroo sighed and let Oikawa pull him to the station door. Besides, if the man really did know the other hostage, it would only be a matter of time before they talked. He held back another sigh.

“Looks like the detective leaked out to a friend that Tsukishima was being held captive, Sawamura did mention he knew him. I wonder what that man’s relation is to the hostage.”

“Yeah...” Kuroo snuck one last look behind him, watching his second soulmate enter a room in front of Sawamura. Even though he had a job to do, he considered ditching to talk to the man.

Hopefully when this was all over they could talk. What a mess.

Sheriff Ukai had gathered the SWAT team in front of the station, all of them suited up. “Alright, we’ve got just under twenty hours until that ransom is expected to be paid. The bastard probably isn’t expecting a full out attack so soon, so what we’re gonna do is go in quick and fast. Finding the hostages are your first priority.” There were nodding heads and a few confirming grunts. Ukai crossed his arms, his blonde hair pushed back with a headband. “We clear out the surrounding building, but keep a low profile. If he isn’t in the Fukurodani warehouse, he’s probably watching it. We need to keep the guy out of the loop for as long as possible.” He nodded over to Kuroo and Oikawa. “As soon as the other lots are cleared, we’re going to make a joint effort on the warehouse. If you find the killer before the hostages, keep him talking as long as possible until the FBI agents show up to negotiate or until the hostages are confirmed to be secured. Are we clear? Good, let’s go!”

The SWAT got into two large vans, the sheriff hopping into one with them, while Kuroo and Oikawa walked over to their car. They didn’t have a part until there was a criminal to talk to, but it was better to be on site in case something went wrong.

They passed a beat up Jeep driving into the station, and Oikawa hummed in the passenger seat as he turned around to watch it pull into a visitor’s parking spot, clicking his tongue at the bumper sticker proclaiming “Zooinks!” with a silhouette of giraffe. “That must be the zoo manager. Damn, just missed him.”

“Yeah, such a shame.” The brunette frowned at his lack of emotion, and Kuroo forced himself to keep his eyes on the road. There were a few minutes of silence as they continued to the outskirts of town, and the agent built up his courage. “Guess this just means we’ll have to talk about something else. Say like, soulmates?”

Oikawa crossed his arms as he fell back against his seat. “Oh, what, you mean yours? We’re going to get there in time.”

“Not quite, but thanks for that.” The black-haired man followed as the SWAT cars took a turn. He was screaming to tell someone about his second soulmate, but, “I was thinking more about yours.”

“What’s there to say?”

“I hate to be the meddler –”

Oikawa scoffed, “No, you don’t.”

“But Iwaizumi told me a pretty interesting story about you two.” Kuroo licked his lips, debated one more time on whether or not he should share the information or wait for Iwaizumi to tell his partner. “He said he’d met his other soulmate too.”

The brunette twitched and his jaw clenched, but he kept his face neutral. “That’s good for him.”

Kuroo blinked as he watched the SWAT team pull over to the side of the road, that was a lot faster than he’d been expecting. It had only been a fifteen-minute drive. “That’s all you have to say? Don’t you want to meet the person? I think you should talk to Iwaiz –”

“Oh, look, we’re here!” Oikawa was jumping out of the car before it had even stopped. “I’ll go see if they need any help in surveillance!”

The agent banged his head against the steering wheel, before grabbing his comm link and bullet-proof vest from the back seat. He grabbed Oikawa’s too, even though it was likely he’d borrow one of the police’s before talking to him again. He strapped on the vest and slipped the link in his ear just in time to hear the orders the sheriff was giving. 

“Alright, the river is a block down, we’re going the rest of the way on foot. Move out!”


	8. Trampoline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! My computer broke down and I haven't been able to access one to post this! It's been super frustrating especially because I've had this chapter done for a while. Thanks for waiting!

Kuroo huffed, leaning against the wall of an already cleared building. He let his head fall back and stared at the ceiling as he listened to Kenma tell him the new information through his earpiece. It was now completely dark out, though the man had set a flashlight on the ground to give him some lighting.

“The manager told us the guy we’re looking for is Kentarou Kyoutani. A picture’s been sent to your phone.” Kenma paused, and the agent felt his phone buzz in his pocket. “His mother died in a car accident just before the murders started, and after that he fell off the radar. The only time we actually know where he was is when he showed up for work. He put his house up for sale and there doesn’t seem to be any other paper trail.”

“Alright, thanks, Kenma. Hey, have you seen the guy Sawamura called about Tsukishima?” Well, he might as well do a little snooping before the shitstorm.

“He’s...energetic.” Kenma sighed over the link. “Apparently he’s Kei’s soulmate.”

“Soulmate?” Golden eyes narrowed. What were the chances that they had different soulmates? How rarely did that happen? Kenma was silent, as if understanding Kuroo hadn’t wanted an answer. Should he share that the man was his soulmate as well? Or should he wait until after they had actually met?

His mouth went dry as another thought occurred to him. If they all had the same soulmates, this guy at the station didn’t even have any idea one of his other soulmates was in danger. His leg jerked away from the wall, the only sign that everything in his body was fighting against sprinting back to the station.

Kuroo had waited his entire life to meet these three people, and now he might lose the chance to see them at all. Frowning, he quickly switched to the SWAT team’s channel in time to hear a team call through about another building cleared, and the agent glared across the empty room.

There were long sheets of plastic hanging from the ceiling, separating different parts of the floor, and the air smelled thickly of paint and chalk. Apparently the Fukurodani business had been thinking of setting up offices near their warehouse, but had no idea someone could possibly be using the building to hold people.

His fingers tapped against his arm rapidly, his jaw tight. There was no way he wasn’t getting out of this without both Akaashi and Tsukishima alive. Whoever this Kyoutani was, he had no idea who he was messing with. 

He switched back to Kenma’s channel. “Any idea on how he could have hacked the station?”

Kenma clicked his tongue, the only sign he was annoyed. “No, neither hostages seem to have the training or history to do it and the unsub dropped out of high school his junior year. It seems unlikely any of them could have done it.”

“Damn.” Kuroo let his head fall back against the wall with a thump. “Okay, well, was there anyone he was close to that could be helping him with this?”

“Not that I can tell, Kuro.” Kenma released a breath. “This is a little more complicated than I thought. I’m gonna need more time to go deeper into the unsub’s life.”

The agent pulled out his phone, clicking a button so the lock screen appeared. He stared at the minimized picture Kenma had texted him for a second, before looking at the time. Twelve hours left.

“That’s the last one!” The call carried through the link and Kuroo stood up straighter. “All clear!”

“Alright.” The sheriff’s voice came over. “We’re gonna regroup in front of the warehouse. Let’s go!”

The agent walked out of the house he was waiting in, sparing a glance at the extra bulletproof vest he left behind. He hadn’t seen Oikawa since sundown, hadn’t been able to check if he had borrowed a vest.

Kuroo walked down the street, knowing that either end of the road had been barricaded. No one was getting in or out of the area. The warehouse already had a small group forming in front of it, and Kuroo scanned for Oikawa. He rolled his eyes after not spotting him and walked up to the sheriff.

“How are we going to do this?”

Ukai cracked his knuckles and squinted at the building. “There are three floors. If he’s smart, he would have taken hold of the top floor, giving him ample time to prepare for us. But we’re going to play it safe and go floor by floor anyways. We’re going to have you and your partner take up the rear, far enough that you won’t be in any serious danger, but close enough that you’ll be able to intervene should he be willing to talk. The medics will be on standby just outside the building.”

“Sounds good to me.” Kuroo checked his gun, making sure it was holstered correctly, before nodding a goodbye to the sheriff. “I’m going to find Oikawa and tell him the plan.”

“We’re moving in five minutes, so make it quick.”

Moving through the group of gathered SWAT members, Kuroo talked into his earpiece. “You get anything useful on the unsub yet, Kenma?”

“His childhood records seem to suggest that one or both of his parents were abusive, though it was always the mother taking him to and picking him up from the hospital. His father seemed to like alcohol if his credit card bills are anything to go by.” Kenma let out a huff. “I still can’t see any way he could have gotten into the station’s system. He must have been making all his transactions with cash and any correspondence with some partner would have had to be in person. He cancelled his phone after his mother’s death.”

“This Kyoutani must really be pissing you off, huh?” Kuroo stepped out of the crowd, checking the surrounding area for any signs of the brunette. “You normally don’t put this much effort in after we know who the culprit is.”

“When I get home, I’m going on vacation.”

Kuroo laughed, sparing one last look around the area. “Hey, Kenma, Oikawa contact you at all? I can’t seem to find him.”

“Mmm, no.”

Letting out a sigh, Kuroo shook his head. “Alright, I can try – Oh, wait! There’s Iwaizumi. I’ll see if he’s seen him.”

The agent heard Kenma make a sound of agreement as he made his way over to the officer, and Kuroo waved a hand over his head. “Hey! I thought you were staying at the station?”

The man turned to greet him, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “Yeah, Daichi was supposed to come so he could handle the press coverage, but he wanted to stay and talk with his soulmate.”

“Soulmate?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “He met his?”

“Yeah, turns out the manager from the zoo is his. Yuuji something. Small world, huh?” The shorter let out a laugh.

“Yeah...” he shook that information aside and rubbed the back of his neck, “but, uh, have you seen Oikawa at all?” Kuroo winced as the officer’s face dropped, but kept going. “He kind of stormed off earlier and I just want to make sure he isn’t doing something stupid before we go in.”

Iwaizumi mumbled something and shook his head. “Yeah, I get it. No, I haven’t seen him but I’ll keep my eye out.” 

The group shifted, obviously some kind of signal had been given and the point of the group quickly moved up to the door. Iwaizumi swore, before giving a short nod to Kuroo. “I’m flanking the formation, but I’ll tell Oikawa to talk to you if I see him.”

“Yeah, thanks...”

The officer jogged away and Kuroo let out a puff of air. At this point, it was completely possible his partner had gone back to the station, and had asked Kenma to cover for him. Well, if Oikawa didn’t want to take part in the raid, that was fine by him.

Kicking down the door, the SWAT team stormed the building. Kuroo watched as the last member went through the doorway and un-holstered his gun. Keeping it next to his hip, but ready to raise it at any moment, the agent walked into the warehouse.

It was dark inside and Kuroo quickly switched his flashlight on and held it forward with his left hand. The first floor seemed to be a singular room, filled almost to the ceiling with boxes. He caught sight of SWAT weaving in and out of the rows, turning corners fast with guns and flashlights ready.

Everything was silent until the leader called out clear and held open the door to the staircase leading up. Kuroo jogged to keep up with the group, falling back as they once again paused at the entrance to the second floor.

A single nod went through the group and the door burst open, the team once again ready with their weapons. Kuroo’s heart was pounding, the adrenaline making his breath come fast.

This floor seemed to be a singular wide hallway, with doors on either sides probably leading to offices. As the group made their way down the hallway, those on the sides of the formations opened the doors quickly, sweeping their gun and flashlight in search before calling out clear.

There was nothing on this floor either.

Kuroo swallowed, and fixed his grip on his gun. There was one floor left. And if there was no one there, he was sure he would go mad. They had eleven hours left before the ransom time and he couldn’t fail.

The SWAT threw open the door to the second staircase at the end of the hall and started up. Kuroo once again waited until they were all through and was halfway to the third floor when he heard Oikawa for the first time over the comm link. 

“There’s a basement!”


	9. Red Rover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late update! I've been terribly sick (still am), I don't understand some of my college courses, and honestly just life in general has fucked me over.

The SWAT team was sent into a scramble, confusion speaking over his earpiece but Kuroo was already in action, taking the steps down two at a time. He was panting when he reached the first floor, the dark boxes looming over him with only his singular flashlight.

“Where, Oikawa?”

“The east side of the building.” His partner’s voice was a whisper. “It was hidden behind a bunch of boxes, I think I hear voices. I’m gonna – ”

Oikawa cut off with a cry and Kuroo swore as he tore through the building. His heart about stopped when a gunshot echoed through the air. He heard the sheriff calling the SWAT team into formation but he didn’t have time to wait.

He reached the edge of the building, seeing the pile of boxes Oikawa must have pushed aside to get to door hidden in the floor. It was thrown open, with a staircase leading down.

Kuroo took a breath, breathed it out slowly and started down. Light grew as he continued down, and he switched off his flashlight and put it away to put both hands on his gun. The staircase ended in a long hallway. There was a doorway on the left at the end of the hallway, light was streaming from it.

He moved forward, eyes scanning. Swallowing at the sight of an unconscious Oikawa on the ground, collapsed against the cement wall, Kuroo quietly moved to kneel next to him. Keeping an eye on the doorway, he put two fingers to his partner’s neck. His shoulders relaxed at the feel of a pulse and slowly started to examine him.

The idiot hadn’t put on a bullet-proof vest, but the shot had only seemed to hit his right shoulder. There was a small crack in the cement wall, the kind a bullet would leave. The wound seeped blood, but he couldn’t stay and worry over it.

“We need a medic down here. Now. Agent down.” Even as Kuroo breathed out the words, he felt it was too loud.  
He fixed Oikawa’s left hand against the wound for some sort of pressure, before standing up and drifting down the rest of the hallway. Taking another quick breath as he put his back next to the doorway, Kuroo whipped around the edge, gun ready.

“Fire and he dies!”

Wide green eyes stared at him, but Kuroo couldn’t focus on that, no. He glared straight at Kyoutani Kentarou, holding his gun to Akaashi’s head. The man’s eyes were narrowed, mouth turned down in a scowl. His blonde hair matched the picture he had seen, cropped close to his head. His finger was on the trigger of the gun, and Akaashi’s head was tilted just a bit from the force of the barrel against it.

“I don’t want any trouble.” Kuroo pulled his hands apart and held them up in the air. He forced himself not to look at Akaashi, didn’t want to see if the other was reacting to his words or not. He could not allow himself to get distracted.

“Gun on the ground!”

Kuroo sucked in a breath and nodded, before slowly kneeling down. “Alright.” His eyes flicked over to the corner, where another body, Tsukishima was propped up. For a moment, he thought he saw golden eyes flicker, but that could’ve have just been the lighting playing tricks.

Glaring at the agent and shifting the arm wrapped around Akaashi’s chest, Kyoutani backed up a little. “I’m not playing any games.”

“Of course not.” Gun now on the floor, Kuroo slowly stood up again. “I want you out of here alive as much as you do.”

He heard shifting behind him, assumed the SWAT team had made their way down already, and slowly shifted his fingers in a sign to give him more time, to not enter just yet. Kuroo hoped they were peeking around the corner to see it, he had to get both hostages out alive.

“Kuroo...” Iwaizumi’s voice growled over the headpiece, but he ignored it, all his attention focused on Kyoutani.

Kyoutani blinked, and the agent watched the subtle relaxation on his trigger finger. He slid his right foot an inch forward. “You do?”

“Of course.” Kuroo didn’t look away from the killer’s eyes as he matched his left foot to his right, all the more closer. “I’m from the FBI, my unit studies minds like yours. If you came with us, we’d be able to use you.”

“I’m not some test subject!” The man tensed up again with the yell and Kuroo grit his teeth in frustration.

Oikawa was so much better at this.

“That’s not what I meant.” Kuroo smiled, tilted his head and slid his right foot forward another inch and just a bit to the right. “We want to understand you better, we only want to talk with you. People would know about you.”

“Me?” The man’s eyebrows furrowed, before he shook his head. There were only three feet between them now and he was longer in front of the doorway. “I don’t give a fuck about that. These idiots,” he shifted behind Akaashi and Kuroo met wide green eyes before forcing himself to look away again, “need to know what they did wrong.”

And as he said that, it clicked. Kuroo nodded, his voice agreeing. “Of course, yes, they shouldn’t be happy and have family when you lost everything.”

“Everything!” Kyoutani glared, his entire body bristling as he spit out his words. “And no one cared! Why should they have everything when I had nothing!” He jerked the gun away from Akaashi to point it at Kuroo.

And that was all he needed to do. There was a bang and Kyoutani screamed as he dropped his gun, hand now bleeding. Kuroo surged forward, separating the killer and Akaashi. The man screamed and tried to jerk away as Kuroo forced his arms behind his back, the other man’s blood spreading on his own hands. SWAT filled the room and Iwaizumi stepped forward with a pair of handcuffs.

“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you, you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” Iwaizumi clicked the handcuffs over Kyoutani’s wrists and Kuroo stepped back, letting the officer lead the killer out of the room.

The man struggled, spitting out swears, but Iwaizumi kept a firm hand on the man’s back and the other on his wrists, forcing him through the doorway with three SWAT behind him.

Kuroo turned to watch as Akaashi was escorted out of the room with a blanket around his shoulders, head twisted to stare at him with wide eyes. Paramedics rushed in after him, going straight for Tsukishima. They placed a gurney next to him and slowly shifted him from the wall to strap him in. It seemed like he was unconscious.

Sucking in a breath, the agent turned away from the medics as they lifted him from the ground. A SWAT member stepped forward with an evidence bag, picking up the gun that had fallen to the ground.

Kuroo blinked and walked out into the chaotic hallway. Everything was happening in a blur. Oikawa was gone, the only sign he was there was a stain of red against the wall. The narrow hallway was full of SWAT and police officers. Silver hair darted into his peripheral vision and he watched as a forensic photographer stepped into the room he had just left and began taking pictures.

Sheriff Ukai stepped forward, clapping him on the shoulder and offering him a damp handkerchief. “Excellent job talking the madman down, agent.”

“Thanks...” Kuroo took it and slowly started to clean off his hands. “Do you know what happened to my partner?”

“Ah, Iwaizumi was the one to help him out, I’m sure he’s in one of the two ambulances outside. In fact, he’s probably already at the hospital and is just fine. It didn’t look life-threatening.” Ukai started walking forward, gesturing for Kuroo to follow him. “I know that the press is going to have a field day with this one, but do you mind staying for the interrogation? I feel he’d be more cooperative with your team.”

He was already nodding before the sheriff had finished, crumpling up the now bloody towel. “I had planned on staying longer anyways.” Soulmates, his mind screamed. “I’ll probably be asked to testify in the trial. Oikawa might stay as well.”

“I’m going to have to call the Fukurodani company again, ask them why the basement wasn’t on the blueprint.” Ukai crossed his arms and glared at nothing. “And all my men are going to get a strong lecture on the importance checking every room thoroughly. While we did end this case successfully, it should not have gone the way it did.”

“I agree. Though you can’t blame your men,” Kuroo shrugged lightly, holding out the handkerchief, “it’s not like they were looking for a hidden door underneath the boxes.”

“I suppose.” The man paused, accepting the small towel back, before pushing the matter aside and grinning at him, eyes shutting with the force of it. “We’ll have to go out for drinks before you leave, of course.”

Kuroo hummed, somehow feeling out of place with how normal, how anticlimactic, this all seemed. This was the way cases closed for him. Sometimes they stayed to get more information on the behavior of the unsub, sometimes they didn’t. He stepped away as the sheriff was pulled to the side by another officer. Staring down at his now clean hands, the agent swallowed back the panic that was threatening to overcome him. The victims’ survival had never meant this much to him.

He hid a wince, smacking himself for seeming cold. It’s not like he never cared about the victims, he was still in contact with some of them even! But...Kuroo shook his head, stepping out of the building just in time to watch an ambulance speed down the road with its sirens on.

Running a hand through his hair, Kuroo let out a sigh and made his way to his car. He wanted to go to the hospital, check up on Oikawa and his soulmates, but it was best to go to the station to interrogate Kyoutani before he lawyered up, if he hadn’t already.

Tsukishima’s other soulmate was probably on his way to the hospital as well, damn it. The agent slid into the driver’s seat, leaned his forehead against the steering wheel. He heard wheels squealing, assuming the barricade had let up to allow the press through. Pressing his finger against his earpiece to check it was still there before changing the channel one last time, Kuroo sighed again.

“Kenma, I have to tell you something.”

“Mm, everything worked out right? I got the news that Kyoutani was on his way here.” Kuroo smiled, practically seeing Kenma packing up.

“Yeah, but...somewhere along the line...it’s all so messed up, Kenma, I don’t even know where to start. I told you Akaashi Keiji is my soulmate.” All background noise on the line silenced. “But so is Tsukishima Kei’s soulmate. And though I haven’t exactly talked to any of them yet, I’m fairly certain Tsukishima is my last one too.”

“Kuro...”

The agent gave a small cry, wishing he could scream louder, and banged his head against the wheel once. “What should I have take priority, Kenma? My job? I haven’t spoken to them once! How do I know they even want to meet me? I don’t know their stances on soulmates...”

“You’ve been looking forward to meeting them for a long time, Kuro. They’re all at the hospital right now and Kyoutani still has to be processed. I’m sure that there are officers here who want to try and get him to crack before letting some FBI agent in. Interviewing the victims might give you an edge.”

Kuroo almost teared up, a grin breaking out on his face. “Kenma! I knew you cared!”

“Whatever.” The connection ended and Kuroo could only assume turned his link off.

He gave a small chuckle, the pressure on his chest slowly lifting. Putting the keys in the ignition and starting the car, Kuroo looked up at the warehouse. As he suspected there were news cars parked haphazardly in front of the building, reporters already speaking towards cameras. Kuroo should have stayed, should have made sure they didn’t falsely report something, but he couldn’t. He was going to meet his soulmates.


	10. Hopscotch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eheheheh...sorry for the radio silence! Life has dropped kicked me into a pile of shit, but I should be getting back on track now! I'm not entirely happy with this chapter...but I really didn't want to keep you waiting any longer! Expect the next chapter within the next week!

It only took a single text to Iwaizumi to ask where he was before Kuroo was on his way. The closest hospital was about ten minutes away from the sight, and the agent couldn’t decide if that was too close or too far away. It was still dark out, but the sky did look just the tiniest bit lighter, even though that didn’t make him feel any better.

As he pulled into a parking spot at the hospital, Kuroo was hit with a sudden wave of nerves. Even if he got to speak to Akaashi, Tsukishima, or the unnamed one, what if they didn’t want to see him? Akaashi probably associated him with some bad memories. And Tsukishima’s soulmate might even blame him for whatever injuries the blonde could have taken. 

So he’d be visiting Oikawa first then.

Swallowing roughly, Kuroo stepped into the hospital, moving right up to the front desk. There was a boy who looked incredibly bored, hair parted equally on either side of his face. He was typing away at the computer in front of him and suddenly the agent was reminded of Kenma.

The boy spared him a two-second glance, before looking back at his screen. “Name.”

“Tetsurou Kuroo, I’m here to see Tooru Oikawa.” Kuroo looked around the entranceway, spotting the doorway that probably led to the waiting room.

“Friend, soulmate, or family?”

Kuroo blinked, itching to take out his badge so he could just see his partner. “...Friend.”

“Sir, I apologize but the patient you wish to see is still in surgery and at the moment we’re only releasing information to family members or soulmates.” The receptionist gave a slow blink, his tone of voice never wavering and his eyes never moving from the screen. “But you are welcome to wait in the room down the hall should his information be released once he’s out of surgery. However, that all depends on his condition.”

Meaning he probably wouldn’t be able to see him today. Okay, fine. So that moved his soulmate discussion up a bit, but that was alright. He wasn’t nervous. He could do this. Ignoring the sweat that had started to form in his palms, Kuroo reached into his pocket and drew out his badge. Flipping it open for the receptionist to see, he leaned against the counter. “I’m actually an FBI agent working on the – ”

“Sir, that does not change what I had previously stated.”

“And I _heard_ two victims were brought here. Is there any chance either of them are available for questioning?”

The boy finally looked up from his screen, staring at the badge Kuroo was holding for a long moment before sucking his teeth. He went back to his computer and quickly typed something out. “Kei Tsukishima...is also currently in surgery, but his soulmate checked into the waiting room a little while ago, if that helps any. Keiji Akaashi, was given a room on the second floor, but seems to be perfectly healthy. Considering his situation, however, I’d have to have a nurse come down and escort you to his room. We unsure of any psychological damage and he needs to know he’s safe.”

Kuroo looked down the hall towards the waiting room. “Alright, thank you. I’ll go see Tsukishima’s soulmate first then.” He nodded to himself and started down the hall. The receptionist continued in the same tone of voice, and Kuroo paused so he could hear him. “If you wish to see Mr. Akaashi at any point come back to me and I’ll call a nurse down.”

Nodding his head once more, Kuroo grit his teeth and moved to the door, hesitating just a moment before reaching out and opening it.

There were little to no people in the waiting room, apparently Urgent Care had been slow. A woman bounced a child on her knee, though her face looked flushed and her eyes glassy. The only other person in the room had to be Tsukishima’s soulmate, who was pacing from one end of the room to the other, head tilted down to watch his feet move. His hair still hung over his face, concealing everything but his lips, which were being attacked by the man’s teeth.

Kuroo moved further into the room, and while the woman’s eyes drifted over his face for a moment, the man never looked up from his feet. The agent spared a glance at the clock nailed to the wall, narrowing his eyes at how early it was and how little sleep he had gotten while on this case.

Bringing his hand up to his fist, he cleared his throat, well aware that the first words he said very well may be printed somewhere on this man’s skin. Golden eyes jerked up to him, but were quickly drawn away as the double doors on the other side of the room opened. How long had Kuroo been standing in the doorway?

A doctor stepped through and looked down at his clipboard. “Kei Tsukishima?”

Kuroo watched the other take a large breath, before nodding his head and moving closer to the doctor. “Yeah, I’m his soulmate. Is he okay?”

The agent moved closer as well, wanting to hear, but also not wanting to intrude if it was bad news. 

“My name is Doctor Takeda, I was the one who operated on him. He lost a lot of blood and the wound on his back will take some time to heal, he may not be able to bend over or sit up on his own for a while, but he was given some rudimentary stitching that may very well have saved his life.” The doctor looked up with a smile. “He’ll be fine.”

There were two sighs of relief, which drew the two’s attention to Kuroo. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. He opened his mouth to make some sort of excuse, but the doctor beat him to it. Probably thinking the weirdo was just happy for some good news in a place so bad.

“He’s still under the anesthesia at the moment, but I’m more than happy to take you to the room he’s in.” At the frantic nodding the man gave, the doctor smiled. “Alright, come this way. There’s some paperwork you’ll need to fill out too.”

“Ah. Actually, can I have a moment?” Takeda turned around to face Kuroo, but the man – _soulmate_ – froze midstep. “I’m an FBI agent working this case and if possible, I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

Taping his pen against the clipboard, the doctor gave a small hum. “I’m sure you’ve heard the status on Mr. Tsukshima, Agent...”

“Kuroo.”

“Yes, well. If Mr. Bokuto is willing, then he can answer the questions I’m assuming you have for him.” Kuroo repeated the name in his head over and over. It was only a last name, but it was something.

At hearing his name, the man seemed to unfreeze and whipped around to stare at Kuroo with wide eyes. Kuroo stood still as he was examined, and he heard the doctor clear his throat.

“Mr. Bokuto...?”

The man sucked in a deep breath, before a wide grin spread across his face. “Yeah! I have no problem answering questions from my soulmate!”

Doctor Takeda jolted and looked between the two rapidly. “You’re...I’m sorry, I thought you said Mr. Tsukishima...” he looked down at his papers and slowly nodded his head, “ah, you’ve registered three potential soulmates, I see. I can include the soulmate registration in the forms you need to fill out.” He gave a small smile. “Well, if you’ll follow me this way?”

He started down the hall and Bokuto quickly lined up to walk in pace with Kuroo. He still had that grin on his face and Kuroo honestly didn’t know if he should be worried or not. 

“So you’re an FBI agent? You helped save Kei?”

The other didn’t _sound_ angry. “Yeah...I. I heard you in the station but I’m sorry. I didn’t stop and meet you.”

“No! I’m glad you didn’t.” The smile dropped and his brow furrowed. “Wait. No, that came out wrong. I mean I’m glad you were hurrying to save Kei! And we’re meeting now at least!” The man gasped and jerked his head to stare up at Kuroo. “Wait! You said you heard me? So, we’re mutual! Awesome!”

Kuroo smiled, letting out a breath of relief. “Yeah, it’s great to finally meet you. Though this isn’t how I would’ve wanted it to go.”

“Hey, hey! This is a happy time!” Bokuto grinned wide again. “I mean I was just told Kei will be fine, so there’s nothing to worry about!”

_Akaashi_. But Kuroo shook his head, and gave a light chuckle. “Glad you see it that way.”

By that time, the doctor had paused in front of the door and was holding out the clipboard in his hand. “Alright, Mr. Tsukishima is asleep inside, and should wake within the hour. 

He might be disoriented though, so try and keep your voices down. When he does wake up, there’s a call nurse button next to his bed, if you would press it, it would save us a lot of time. Just fill out what you can of this paperwork. I’ll be back with the registration papers shortly.”

“Yeah, sure!” Bokuto took the clipboard quickly, and reached for the doorknob. The doctor nodded to Kuroo and walked down the hallway. There was a long pause as Kuroo waited for Bokuto to open the door, before the other’s head dropped against it. “He’ll...be okay, right? Kei?”

“Yeah, of course.” Kuroo wanted to reach a hand out, wanted to hug this man who suddenly sounded so small. “Like you said, the doctor told you he’d be fine.”

“Right.” Huffing out a breath, the man threw the door open and stepped into the room.

For all his earlier hesitation, the second the door was open, Bokuto was beside Tsukishima’s bed. He reached out and grabbed Tsukishima’s hand and Kuroo wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to see the other’s face.

Kuroo stood in the doorway, suddenly overly aware of how little he knew about either of these people. This wasn’t how meeting soulmates was supposed to go. They were supposed to have time to get to know one another, to decide what they wanted, but with the way this case had gone they couldn’t. Kuroo had to fulfill his job.

So he cleared his throat and stepped in the room, closing the door behind him. “So you’re alright with answering questions about Mr. Tsukishima?”

“Ah, what?” There was a warble to the other’s voice and Kuroo’s stomach twisted. “Yeah, yeah. Anything to help.”

“Okay, what do you remember about the day the Tsukishima went missing?” The agent took another step into the room, wanting to offer comfort but knowing he was the one who would probably cause the most distress.

“I-I left a while before Kei even got up, we don’t work the same hours.” Bokuto hunched his shoulders to hide the way his entire body is shaking. “I planned on picking him up so we could make dinner together but, but when I got there they said he had never shown up. I made him walk to work alone, oh God. This is my fault. I’m the worst!”

“Ah, no, Bokuto...that’s not. It’s not your fault, you need to understand that.” Kuroo finally moved forward to crouch next to the man, seeing the tears and snot that had leaked onto the man’s face. “No one thinks it’s your fault, especially not Tsukishima.”

“I’m the worst soulmate ever!”

It didn’t even seem like the man was listening to Kuroo, his voice hiccupping as he gripped Tsukishima’s hand tightly. The agent sucked in a breath, he didn’t know how to handle this. He felt horrible for being the cause for the other’s tears, but he grit his teeth.

“Bokuto.” The man’s sniffling paused for a second and he let out a small sound that broke Kuroo’s heart. “I don’t know you that well, but I can tell already that you care deeply for Tsukishima. That proves you’ve been a good partner.” 

The man sniffed again. “I suppose…you’re right.”

Kuroo opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the sound of the doorknob turning. Figuring it was just the doctor returning, he turned to watch the door open.

However, instead of Doctor Takeda, Akaashi slowly stepped through the doorway, a nurse hovering in the hallway behind him. Kuroo sucked in a breath and watched as the other balked at the sight of him, but quickly recovered to a neutral facial expression.

Swallowing once, Akaashi fidgeted his hands together before speaking. “I came to apologize.” 

Even though it would make sense for Akaashi to be looking at Bokuto, his eyes were trained on Kuroo. There was a moment of silence as Bokuto sucked in a deep breath just as Akaashi let out a shaky one, his shoulders hunching as he eventually turned to Bokuto. 

“I was the one who pulled...uh,” there was another pause as he shifted uncomfortably, “my soulmate into this. He should not have been hurt the way he was.”

“I’m sure Kei doesn’t blame you!” Bokuto grinned widely, previous mood forgotten, and Kuroo smirked as Akaashi blinked rapidly at the sight. “And this just means you weren’t alone through all that!”

“Ah.” The shorter let out a small breath. “My name is Keiji Akaashi. And yours?”

“Koutarou Bokuto!” Bounding quickly across the room, Bokuto wrapped the other in a tight hug. “I’m glad that my other soulmate is safe too!”


	11. Swing Set

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! I'm planning the next one to be out in two weeks because of finals, but after that it's winter break and I'll be able to post a lot more! Thank you for reading!

“Ah, so we are mutual?” Akaashi shied away from the hug, eyes flitting to Tsukishima. “You’re Tsukishima’s soulmate too?”

“Yeah! Kuroo, say something! See if Keiji is yours as well!”

“I don’t think – ”

“I’ve already – ”

The two blinked at each other and Kuroo gave a small smile, slipping his hands into his pockets. “I already knew Akaashi was my soulmate. I watched the video Kyoutani sent to the police station.”

“Oh.” Akaashi’s hands fidgeted with the hospital shirt he had on over his jeans and he looked down. “I thought – because you didn’t react like Bokuto did when I spoke – that it wasn’t mutual. Because I heard your words at the raid.”

“Well, this is perfect! We’ve all met!” There was a pause as Bokuto thought back on his words and his shoulders dropped. “Or we will have…when Kei wakes up.”

“I apologize once again. You would not have to worry about this if I hadn’t run into him.”

“I’m telling you it’s okay!” Bokuto grinned, though this one seemed a lot more forced than before. He walked over to the bed, staring down at the blonde. “Kei’s going to wake up, he’s gonna get better, and then we can all go home!”

Kuroo took a deep breath, trying to ignore the fact that his home was on the other side of the country, and cleared his throat. “Actually, since you’re here, Akaashi. I’m sorry, but would you be willing to answer some questions?”

“Questions?” The man straightened, clenching his teeth. “Ah, about what happened.”

Kuroo held up his hands, forcing himself to keep a sympathetic smile on his face. “I don’t want to force you to do anything. If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”

“No, I want – ” Akaashi stared at Tsukishima, before nodding at Kuroo. “I want to help any way I can.”

“Alright, uh, are you okay with Bokuto listening in?” At the nod, Kuroo’s smile was less forced and he gestured to a chair placed in the corner of the room. “Why don’t you take a seat, it might make things easier.”

Akaashi nodded and finally stepped into the room, the nurse taking his place in the doorway. Bokuto seemed to be politely ignoring them, taking Tsukishima’s hand and kneeling by the bed again. Watching as Akaashi let out a breath as he sat down, Kuroo chewed the inside of his cheek. Suddenly, his soulmate’s injuries seemed all the more apparent.

The hair that had covered a part of Akaashi’s forehead shifted out of the way to reveal a bandage, and when he looked up at Kuroo the dark circles under his eyes looked larger. He could see two circular bruises just above the collar of the hospital shirt, just about the size of two thumbs. It made his blood boil.

“The police department might have already asked you about this, but I just want to get as much information as possible before going back to the station.” Akaashi nodded once more and the man cleared his throat. “Ok, so considering we arrested him at the crime scene, there's not a lot he can do to defend himself, but any information that could give us an actual confession would help. This might be a little difficult, but I’ll be right here, okay?”

Akaashi gave a grim smile, eyes flickering between Kuroo and Tsukishima. Taking a chance, Kuroo stepped forward and kneeled down in front of the other, taking his hand.

Ignoring the shocked look, Kuroo turned serious. “I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and go through some scenes with me, okay?”

Even as Akaashi did as he asked and shut his eyes, he questioned, “Why?”

“Having your eyes closed, might make it easier to remember.” Kuroo gave Akaashi’s hand a squeeze. “Think back to two days ago,” had it really only been that long? “you weren’t home in the evening?”

“No. No, I was visiting a friend, Konoha, we got coffee together but I’d promised my-my parents I’d be home early for dinner so I cut our reunion short.” Akaashi’s eyes moved back and forth across his lids. “I drove home, but when I got there, the door was wide open.”

There was a long pause and Kuroo felt Akaashi squeeze his hand tighter. “What happened next?”

“I-I got to the porch and I look inside and Dad’s falling to the ground and he’s there and Mom and there’s so much – oh, God – so much blood and he turns and he stares at me.” Akaashi’s breath was starting to come heavier and Kuroo heard Bokuto shifting behind him. “I can’t – there is so much blood, I didn’t check. I run but should I have stayed.” The man’s lip quivered for a moment and Kuroo wondered if he should interrupt but Akaashi kept going. “There’s a trail that leads through the woods, if I can reach there and he’s still following me, I can try and lose him in the woods. I’m running and I look over my shoulder and he’s still there but then –”

He once again stopped himself and Kuroo reached up with his other hand to massage the one he’s holding. “But then?”

“I run into someone.” Akaashi sucked in air like he was struggling to breathe. His free hand moved to rest against his ribs. “And I know the…killer’s right behind me and I’m trying to drag this person with me. Then he says my words. And there’s pain in his eyes and it’s all my fault. I should have run into the woods sooner. I shouldn’t have run at all. What if my parents were still alive? I had no way of knowing. What kind of son does that? I should have –”

“Okay, Akaashi, open your eyes.” Kuroo stopped the other as he started hyperventilating, his eyes still glued shut. “Akaashi.” He heard movement from the doorway, expected the nurse to step in but… He let go of Akaashi’s hand to cradle the other’s face. “Akaashi, it’s okay. Open your eyes, Keiji.”

The man’s eyes flew open with a gasp, frantically searching the room as if he expected Kyoutani to be there. After realizing where he was, all the tension flew out of him and he slumped into his chair. “Oh. That was…more real than I thought it would be.”

“Memory is a weird thing. I apologize I should have stopped you sooner.” Kuroo stood up, stepping away from Akaashi. “Do you remember what happened next?”

“He – I was in shock when Tsuskishima fell to the ground and he drugged me and when I woke up I was in the room.” Akaashi shook his head quickly. “He threw Tsukishima in next and then forced me to stitch him up. He stayed out of the room until when I assume you started your raid.”

Kuroo nodded, and remembering how bothered Kenma had been about the station being hacked, hummed lightly. “One last question, did you only ever see Kyoutani?”

“You think he has a partner?” Akaashi blinked, mouth turning down.

“Some of the stuff he did would require a lot more…finesse than he seems to have, so we’re just trying to cover our bases.”

Akaashi’s hands came together and he massaged his knuckles. “I never saw anyone else…” he hesitated, obviously trying to figure out if it was important. “but when Tsukishima woke up a-after I stitched him, he separated Tsukishima and I. He came back alone to record the ransom video. I don’t know where he took him. But after the video, he came back with Tsukishima and he was unconscious again.”

“He took Tsukishima somewhere else?” Kuroo crossed his arms, scowling. It was possible that he could’ve just left the injured blonde alone in the hallway outside, but Kyoutani didn’t seem like the person to take that kind of risk. Which meant he either had another holding place or someone had watched Tsukishima for him. “Okay, that’s all. Thank you. You’ve helped a lot, Akaashi.”

Kuroo turned around, saw the nurse standing right behind him, a stern expression on her face. “I believe it’s time for Mr. Akaashi to return to his room.”

Nodding and stepping away so Akaashi could stand, Kuroo saw Bokuto hunched over a clipboard by the bed. The doctor must have come in and left without him hearing. The man met his eye and pulled a paper from the stack with a shaky smile.

“This one’s for you to fill out for your registration for me. I told him about Keiji and he said he’d bring more copies.”

Akaashi swallowed and started to follow the nurse to the door, but turned to face the two. “He’ll need to bring me three copies to my room then. I should be released later in the day, if it’s okay,” he brought his hands together in what Kuroo was quickly recognizing as a nervous habit, “I’d like to come back and check up on Tsukishima?”

“Of course! I can give you a ride home too!” Bokuto looked up from his paperwork, and Kuroo was watched as Akaashi winced.

“That would be…nice. Thank you. Until later, then.” The man quickly left and the room was quiet again.

Kuroo watched as Bokuto focused on his paperwork, then looked down at the one in his hands. Soulmate Registration. To think he’d be doing this during a case…He shook his head and reached for the extra pen that was on the clipboard. 

There was silence for a few moments as Kuroo began to write on a shelf presumably filled with first aid supplies, before Bokuto broke it.

“Hey, Kuroo? I was wondering…I mean, I didn’t get the chance to ask Keiji, but, how come you call everyone by their last name?”

Kuroo blinked, then looked over at Bokuto in confusion. “But…you’re calling me by my last name.”

“What?” The man stood up with a shout, grabbing a paper from a pile beside him scribbling off a few lines of the paper he was writing on. “Hey, that’s not fair! Who doesn’t introduce themselves with their first name? Now I’m gonna look like an idiot because for all the lines I put your last name where it should be your first.”

Letting his head fall back with a laugh, Kuroo shook his head. “Sorry, force of habit. I’m used to people who have an Officer or Agent in front of their name. I guess I just got used to calling everyone by their last name. I’m Tetsurou, though.” 

Even as he said it felt weird, but Bokuto looked satisfied as he wrote it down. “So why do you think Keiji does it? You know, I didn’t get to ask him what he does, maybe he works in a situation like yours?”

“Huh.” That had never occurred to him, and it was once again dawning on Kuroo how little he knew of all his soulmates. “Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to ask him when he gets back.”

“Right!” Bokuto went back to his paperwork, and Kuroo turned back to his, his spine tingling as he felt the air turn awkward. “Well, actually, we don’t really know much about each other…so maybe we could get to know each other too?”

Kuroo breathed, signing his name at the bottom of the paper and holding it out to the other. “You just need to sign this, and I gotta sign yours, but yeah. Getting to know each other sounds good.”


	12. Slip-N-Slide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember how I said I'd update two weeks ago? Yeah, me too! Then I got the WORST case of writer's block I have ever had. And I still don't like this chapter, but what's new? I kinda pushed myself to finish this to give you something, so I hope it's decent! I'm sorry! Finals and holidays and family problems took up a lot more time than I thought they would, thank you for you patience!

Kuroo plopped down next to Bokuto, ignoring the buzzing he felt in his pocket. “So when did you and Tsukishima meet?”

“High school!” The man signed Kuroo’s paper and put it in the completed pile, before holding out his own. “We were both on the volleyball team! Oh, man, you should’ve seen us play! Tsukishima was a middle blocker that could block out the strongest spikers in our district, and I was the ace! One of the top five in the state!”

Kuroo chuckled and quickly signed the bottom of his paper, before reaching for the pile of completed forms, planning on organizing it so the doctor wouldn’t have too much work. “Volleyball, eh? I played a season in middle school, but I had to stop.”

“How come?”

Frowning lightly, Kuroo shuffled through the paper, briefly glancing over the health information Bokuto had written for Tsukishima. “Personal reasons.”

“…Oh.” Bokuto licked his lips and looked down at the clipboard in his hands.

“Not that it’s something I won’t eventually share!” Forcing a laugh, Kuroo rubbed the back of his neck. “But it’s probably best we keep to the happy things right now, right? We can talk about the sad stuff later.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Kuroo felt a shot of nerves go through his system, wondering if he had already fucked it up. But, people didn’t normally share really personal stories until they knew each other better, right? Maybe Bokuto felt it was different because they were soulmates? Just as he opened his mouth to tell him the reason anyways, Bokuto jumped in. “So, then, FBI agent, huh? You’ve definitely got the coolest job out of all of us.”

Kuroo laughed, suddenly realizing how much of his past should probably wait until later. “Yeah, it was total luck that I got the job. And I almost didn’t too.”

“How come?”

“Ah…Kenma, my best friend, and I applied at the same time.” Not a total lie? “They weren’t going to…hire Kenma, only me, but I insisted that if I joined the FBI, then Kenma would too. Riskiest move I ever made.”

“That’s so cool though! Standing up for your best friend!” Kuroo blinked, wondering if someone’s eyes could actually sparkle.

Shrugging, Kuroo went back to organizing the papers. “Yeah, sometimes he gets insecure though, thinking the only reason he has the job is because of me, but he’s more than proven himself since. How about you? Where are you two working?”

“I just got a job as an analyst for a company downtown. It pays a hell of a lot better than my old job, which was like half the reason I took it in the first place.” Bokuto looked at Tsukishima, reached up to take his hand. “Kei works full-time at a grocery store, and he overworked himself to pay the bills when I worked at the bar. I wanted him to take less shifts, even if we wouldn’t see each other as much.”

Kuroo had to physically resist the urge to grasp his chest. How was he so cute? He wanted to continue the conversation, figure out how disgustingly in love they were, but a knock on the door interrupted him.

The doctor stepped into the room, a small smile on his face and amusement in his eyes. “Hello again. I’ve brought more soulmate registration forms.”

Bokuto jumped, suddenly frantically filling out the last paper on the clipboard. “I’m done with Kei’s information for you!” He grabbed the papers Kuroo was holding and reattached them to the clipboard. “Keiji went back to his room, so you’ll need to take his there.”

“That’s fine.” Doctor Takeda traded the clipboard for the registration papers, flipping through it briefly. “I also want to tell you that Mr. Tsukishima is due to wake up in the next half hour or so, though it could be a little longer.”

Kuroo, who had already started to fill out his form for Akaashi, looked up at the bed at the statement. Bokuto fidgeted in place, staring at the doctor. “And you said he’d be fine, right?”

“There were no complications, no.” Takeda smiled lightly. “There is some care you’ll have to take, which I can explain now, or wait until Mr. Tsukishima is up so you don’t have to hear the same spiel twice.”

“That’s fine.” Bokuto grabbed for Tsukishima’s hand again.

“Very well.” Kuroo handed his completed form to the doctor and the man nodded his head. “Fair warning that Mr. Tsukishima might be a little out of it when he wakes up. Don’t try to force him to remember anything, let it come back naturally.”

“Got it.” The doctor left and Bokuto let out a sigh. “Being patient has never been my strong point.”

“I know the feeling.” Kuroo reached up to massage his shoulder, thinking about the words hidden under his shirt. Though the chances of them not matching were low, especially because Bokuto and Akaashi matched Tsukishima, there was still a ball of nerves in his stomach that the first words he heard from Tsukishima would not be written on his skin. 

Their earlier mood gone, the two of them stood in silence, Kuroo fidgeting in the awkward air and Bokuto staring down at Tsukishima. The only sound in the room was the constant beeping of the blonde’s heart monitor, and with each passing minute it seemed to grow louder.

It was awkward. And anything Kuroo thought of to say would only make it worse. His phone started vibrating in his pocket again, but it would probably seem bad if he took the call. How does someone talk to their soulmate when they first meet because of a murder? Small talk seemed so inappropriate.

Kuroo shifted closer, ready to say something, when Bokuto straightened, eyes focused down at the hand he was holding. “Kei?”

There was a shift underneath the sheets and then a groan, followed by slightly slurred words. “What the fuck…”

As much as he tried to, Kuroo couldn’t keep the smile from forcing its way onto his face. He hadn’t been sure Tsukishima would be the type to swear as a first thought, but the man was glad to be proven wrong as his right shoulder burned.

Tsukishima squinted his eyes open with a scowl, blindly reaching his hand out. “Bokuto? Where am I?”

“Hey, babe…You’re in the hospital.” Bokuto reached over to the counter where a pair of glasses sat, a single crack through one lens, and placed them on Tsukishima’s face.

“Wh-what happened?” The man tried to sit up, but Bokuto pressed down on his shoulders. “Why…?”

Kuroo cleared his throat, stepping around Bokuto so the blonde could see him. “Hello, Tsukishima. My name is Tetsurou Kuroo. What do you remember?”

“Who…” Tsukishima shook his head, bringing a hand up to hold it. “Bokuto, what’s happening?”

The man made a small noise and looked over at Kuroo for help. He gently put his hand on the other’s shoulder. “The anesthesia is probably making it hard for him to remember anything. It’ll take a little to wear off.” He had meant for those words to comfort, but the minute he had finished Bokuto’s shoulder dropped from underneath his hand. Worry filled him and he tried to correct himself, whatever he said that was wrong. “Ah, by a little, I mean it’ll only be like ten minutes. And it’s nothing permanent that he’ll forget! You don’t need to worry.”

“No…” Bokuto’s lip quivered as he met Kuroo’s eyes and panic flooded his chest. “I’m sorry, Tetsurou… None of those words are on Kei’s body.”

Panic turned icy as he felt his entire body freeze. “Oh.” He swallowed roughly, wondering about the words on his own skin. One-sided…One-sided was okay. But he couldn’t let Bokuto feel guilty for something he had no control over. “That’s. Well, that just means that Tsukishima isn’t my soulmate. He’s just yours and Akaashi’s. That’s alright.”

“You…didn’t have any of Tsukishima’s words either?” Bokuto looked down at the blonde, who was watching everything with hooded eyes and slowly blinking.

Kuroo’s jaw tightened. He hated lying. God, did he hate lying. But if it made everyone’s life easier, then it was best, right? If Tsukishima knew he had a one-sided bond with him, then it could easily make things awkward and put a strain on their new relationship. 

So that left no choice then. “No.”

“Oh.” Bokuto looked down. “So then I guess Kei has someone I don’t, and so do you.”

The blonde squinted up at his soulmate, his mouth pursed. “Are you,” the words were a little forced, like he was struggling to be coherent, “are you done talking like I’m not here?”

“Of course,” damn, no wonder he wasn’t Tsukishima’s soulmate, he already was being inconsiderate, “sorry, Tsukishima.”

The man sighed, eyes drifting to the ceiling. “Whatever. It’s fine.”

“Kei? What wrong?” Bokuto looked ready to run down the hall to get the doctor and Kuroo wondered what he had missed in silent conversation.

“It’s. It’s nothing, Bokuto.” He blinked rapidly and Kuroo had to wonder how the anesthesia was affecting his thinking. “I think I’m starting to remember now.”

“Can you tell us anything?” Kuroo forced his current feelings aside, he had to do his job.

Tsukishima continued to look at the ceiling, his face blank, but Bokuto must have seen something there that made him crawl up onto the bed and wrap an arm around him. Kuroo turned his head away a little, the air awkward again as he realized they probably already had an established relationship and adjusting to two more people was going to be hard, especially when one wasn’t requited.

“I was stabbed. Keiji helped me.” His eyes shifted to focus on Bokuto. “He’s our other soulmate.”

“Yeah! We’ve already met him, he was in here earlier to check on you. He’ll be back!”

Kuroo cleared his throat, drawing both men’s attention. “Sorry, I’m one of the agents working the case – ” 

“I know.” Tsukishima huffed, turning his head to glare at the wall. “I remember some of the rescue.”

“You – You do?” Kuroo felt completely out of his element, not used to stepping on so many land mines in one conversation.

“I heard…” Tsukishima shoulders crept up, his hands twiddling together. “When you came into the room.”

“You…did…” Oh, fuck. Tsukishima was chewing the inside of his cheek, eyes directed at the sheets covering his legs. “So then the first words you heard me say…”

“Are written on my tailbone, yes.” Tsukishima finally looked up to meet his eyes and Kuroo wanted to sink through the ground. “But you’ve already stated that you do not have any words of mine, so we will have to go into this thing knowing that you will have someone else instead of me.”

“Kei…”

“We will need to talk about it with Keiji, but I plan,” the blonde clenched his jaw and Kuroo felt like the scum of the earth, “I plan on supporting my soulmate, though it’s unrequited.”

“Oh, Kei…” Bokuto looked like he was tearing up and Kuroo felt the same.

He had to fix this. God, he was an idiot.

“No.” Both of the men on the bed looked at him in question. Kuroo swallowed and felt like banging his head against the wall. He rubbed the shoulder of his suit. “I…lied. I thought it would be best if Tsukishima didn’t have my words that everyone thought I didn’t have his either. An unrequited match would have just caused problems and awkwardness. We match, Tsukishima.”

Silence filled the room as his words were processed, before Bokuto coughed, turning in the bed to face Tsukishima fully. “Kei, he was only thinking ahead, you can’t compare – ”

“You lied.” Tsukishima ignored the man beside him and Kuroo nervously watched as the blonde’s hands curled into fists. “We hadn’t even known each other for a day and you decided to lie to two of your soulmates. What is that supposed to make me think?”

Another landmine? Kuroo winced, wishing he could turn back the clock half an hour and redo this entire conversation. “I thought it would be easier – ”

“For who?” Tsukishima raised his voice, tried to push himself further into a sitting position and hissed in pain before laying back again. “How could forming a relationship on a lie be easier? When would you have told us? Never?”

Bokuto’s head whipped back and forth between the two, his face filled with worry. Kuroo drug a hand down his face, letting out a shaky breath. How could he have not seen this coming? “Tsukishima, I’m – ”

“No.” The man crossed his arms, glaring across the room at Kuroo. “I can’t know if your apology is going to be sincere when the first conversation we’ve had started with a lie.”

“Kei, you have to look at it from his side too. He was only thinking of our comfort.” Bokuto tried to squeeze Tsukshima’s shoulder again, but his arm was shrugged off.

“That doesn’t matter!” His glare turned to the man beside and Kuroo swallowed roughly. “We need to be able to trust each other!”

A knock at the door drew all their attention, and suddenly Akaashi and Doctor Takeda were walking into the room. Akaashi stiffened immediately at the tension in the room as soon as he was through the doorway, eyes flicking to each of the three men. The doctor breezed through it, moving to the bedside to check on Tsukishima.

Akaashi crossed the room and stood next to Kuroo. “What happened?”

Kuroo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I…fucked up. Told a lie and had it come back and bite me.”

“I see. Tsukishima, how are you feeling?” Tsukishima looked over from answering a question the doctor had given him, frown on his face.

“I’m awake.” His tone was biting and Kuroo kept his gaze locked on the floor.

“Fair enough.” Akaashi sighed, shifting in place beside Kuroo. “Sorry for this, Tsukishima, but has Kuroo asked you anything about what happened yet?”

Kuroo jerked his head up, eyes wide. Of all things… “It’s probably not the best time right – ”

“I don’t care.” Tsukishima huffed, leaned closer to Bokuto as the man took a few pamphlets from the doctor. “The best thing you can do right now is put those men away for good.”

There was a pause as Akaashi stiffened and Kuroo sucked in a quick breath, wheels already turning. “Men?”

“You got them both didn’t you? I want them to rot in jail forever.” Tsukishima glared at the wall across the room, glasses glinting against the light.

“Before I let this interview continue, Agent Kuroo, I need you to understand that Mr. Tsukishima is on heavy painkillers and is still feeling aftereffects of the anesthesia. There is the possibility that he is misremembering.” Tsukishima scoffed even as Kuroo nodded, and the doctor moved to stand just in the doorway.

“Can you describe the two men for me?” Kuroo pulled out his phone, wincing as he saw the missed calls from Kenma, and opened up a notepad. “How did they interact with each other?”

“You…didn’t catch them both.” The blonde stared at Kuroo with wide eyes, before shutting them and licking his lips. “Fuck, okay. There was the blonde, you know, and another man who was with me alone for a while.” Tsukishima shuddered, and the agent frowned, planning on looking through the doctor’s file after this. “He had brown hair, that kind of flipped away from his face and shorter then me by a few inches. He had like four computers in the room we were in and whenever the two were together they were always fighting. He wanted…to kill one of us so the police we were more willing to believe our threats. He wanted to kill me.”

“Did they ever mention names?” Kuroo heard the coldness in his voice, wanted to stop it, but this information was essential to the case.

Tsukishima shook his head, and Bokuto snuggled closer. “No, they never called each other by names.”

Kuroo sucked in a breath, copied the notes and sent them to Kenma along with the text saying he was on his way. He was dreading this part. “Okay…I need to get this information to the station, but…”

Bokuto scrambled out of the bed, mindful of Tsukishima, before grabbing at Kuroo’s phone. “I’m putting mine and Kei’s numbers in. Kei’s mad at you because of the lying, and not gonna lie I am a little too, but you’re our soulmate, so we should give you more of a chance instead of shunning you for a stupid mistake.”

“I would put mine in as well,” Akaashi watched as Bokuto handed the phone back to Kuroo, “but it was taken from me and destroyed so I wouldn’t have a way of getting help. I’ll need to get a new one.”

“Same.” Tsukishima’s head lulled back on his pillow, eyes fluttering. “I don’t have a phone either, so Bokuto’s is the only way to reach us.”

“You’d…want me to?”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, though it lost some of its effect as it got cut off with a small yawn. “You need to make it up to me somehow.”

Kuroo held back a grin, nodding his head as he slowly backed towards the door, the doctor moving out of the way as he flipped through Tsukishima’s file. “Yes, I will! I’m going to be the best soulmate ever!” Which had been his original plan, but it seemed that would take more work than he thought.

“Hey, hey! That’s my role!” 

Bokuto huffed as Kuroo cackled at him and he rounded the doorway, leaning so his head was still in view. “Let me know if anything comes up, I’ll text you later tonight!”

As two voices called out goodbye, Kuroo turned and jogged lightly down the hallway, a frown on his lips. He had to get back to the station with this new information, but he really wanted nothing more than to stay behind and make it up to Tsukishima, get to know all three of them more. It sucked, and he hoped he could get them to understand, but right now the job came first.


End file.
